


Experiment 15

by Sir_Rainbow_Sprinkles



Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Iron Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bruce Banner/Tony Stark - Freeform, Canon-Typical Violence, Eventual Sex, Iron Man 3 Spoilers, Iron Man 3 happened but Tony still has the arc reactor, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-15
Updated: 2015-10-26
Packaged: 2018-02-17 11:15:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 31,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2307632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sir_Rainbow_Sprinkles/pseuds/Sir_Rainbow_Sprinkles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Do we have to?” Tony's moved his arm that had somehow found its way around Bruce's hips. Tony pulled his friend closer to him, and snuggled into his side.</p><p>“Fate of the world, 'member? Have you seen my glasses?” <br/>-o-<br/>Something weird is happening in Latveria. Meanwhile Tony’s crush on Bruce slowly consumes his life. Cannon divergent after Iron Man 3.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time in Avengers Fandom, be gentle with me senpai(s). Updates will be slow.  
> 9/22 : Beta'd by The_Silent_Writer, all mistakes left are solely my own

Tony and Fury would probably never see eye to eye. Tony figured half the reason was the eye-patch, and the other half was the huge tree trunk wedged tightly between the Director's ass cheeks. Tony wasn't Fury's flying monkey and he refused to even entertain that notion. So when Fury called him in for a meeting and asked as nicely as his stern, steely voice could muster if Stark would be willing to house the Avengers somewhere on one of his many properties Tony gave him hell. Of course Tony had already thought of rounding up the rest of his team and giving them housing somewhere in his busted up tower after renovations were finished; especially after Steve was brutally assaulted by several news crews after they followed him home from his volunteer work helping at the YMCA. Not to mention Bruce was homeless and Tony didn't like the idea of sending the guy back out into the world, with no money and nowhere to go. But one-eyed-wonder didn't need to know that. All of his team could use a place to stay that was firmly planted on the ground and safe from every two-bit criminal that wanted to bury a bullet in their heads. So while Tony gave Fury hell for imposing on Tony's massive wealth, he caved and told the Director that he would find a place for them in three months tops. Tony told himself it would be fun. Sure his daytime fantasy suddenly became an obligation, but what the hell. At least Fury hadn't asked him to cool down on the public drunkenness, because even Pepper couldn't get him to do that. It was summer in Manhattan when Tony finally came around to asking Bruce about moving into the tower. The two had been working on separate projects when Tony asked: 

“Bruce. Can we talk for a second?”

Bruce Banner looked up from where his eye had been plastered to the eyepiece of a microscope.  
“I thought that's what we've been doing.” The physicist words were delivered with a small half smile.  
The two had been trading gentle jabs and bits of theory with one another for what was bordering on three hours. Neither of them had felt the time pass. 

“I mean really talk. Just for a minute.” Tony jumped on top of the counter next to the microscope Bruce still had his hands wrapped around. Tony was fidgeting with a wrench, turning it around in his sweat and grease stained hands. Bruce glanced back at his work before turning toward Tony, resting his hip on the counter and giving the engineer his full attention. 

“Of course.”

“I think you should move in.” 

“I can't do that.” Bruce turned back to the microscope and began to readjust the focus. 

“Yes, you can.” Tony picked up the microscope and placed it on the other side of the counter. Bruce took his glasses off and rubbed the bridge of his nose. 

“Do you really wanna live with the Other Guy? I can't put you or Pepper at risk like that, or anyone else in this building for that matter.” He put his glasses back on and reached across Tony's lap to take back the microscope. The engineer grabbed Bruce's wrist and placed it back on the counter. 

“I don't care what anyone else says about it, my building, my say.” 

“Have you talked to Pepper about this?” Bruce turned back to his work. He didn't need to see the look of slight annoyance on his friend's face to know it was there. 

“I'm sure she'll say yes.” 

_That's funny, because I'm sure she'll say no,_ Bruce thought.  
“Tony...” The name came out in a sigh. 

“No arguments. This is happening.” The engineer jumped off the table and strode over to where he was manually recalibrating DUM-E. The robot had been a bit more useless than normal, knocking into things with an abandon usually associated with intoxication. Tony had to open it up and replace most of its wiring. It had all been fried, God only knows how. The engineer thrust himself back into the bowls of the robot, ignoring the way it bleeped and blooped in what could only be interpreted as pain. Tony gave DUM-E a swift slap to its metallic torso, making it bleep once more then grow silent. “What type of wallpaper is your thing?” Tony spoke over the sound of his work. “Green maybe? Or no green, you've got the whole green thing covered. Chartreuse? Lemon maybe? Purple! Yeah, purple is definitely more your thing.” 

“I said no, Tony.” Bruce followed his friend to his workstation; bending down and hovering just slightly over the other man until he was forced to take his head out of the mess of wires and bolts. The two made eye contact. Bruce couldn't help but notice the long smear of motor oil running across Tony's forehead, it made him smile something small and personal. The expression flicked across his face easily and quickly. 

“Blue? It'll bring out your eyes.”

“What if Hulk comes out? The last time-”

“Do you always worry this much? Like all the time? Telling by your budding wrinkles-”

“I really appreciate it Tony.” And Bruce hoped that the engineer could tell it by his face. He hadn't had a meal not scrapped together as a necessary after thought till S.H.I.E.L.D. picked him up in Calcutta, and hadn't had a meal that made him genuinely happy to have taste buds till Tony carried him away in his shiny red car. It was nice having a bed that stood off the ground, and meals he didn't have to think about preparing. It was nice and normal, but his bed felt like a marshmallow so soft it would swallow him in the dead of night, and food was food no matter where you were. The soles of his feet itched, Bruce naturally needed to be on the move. He had adapted to it. Staying in one place for so long felt unnatural, the tower was ostentatious and littered with unnecessary equipment. He needed to leave for his own sake, as well as everyone else's. 

“You've been here for a week and everything’s been fine. I doubt one day you'll wake up and it won't be. Are those Oreos? Have you been eating in the lab?” 

Bruce sighed and let his bottom plop down to the floor, resting his arms on his awkwardly placed knees that jut up in front of him. “You're forgetting we're in the middle of Manhattan? What happens if the Other Guy decides to go for a stroll through Central Park?” 

“I'm more worried about you eating while dealing with those samples. I know the Other Guy makes you pretty indestructible but eating while dealing with toxic materials-still bad practice.” 

Bruce rolled his eyes. Tony was looking over his friend's shoulder at the package of cookies on the far counter, suddenly aware he hadn't eaten anything that could be called food for hours. The physicist saw Tony's line of sight divert to the cookies and ran his hands through this salt-and-pepper hair. Bruce's fingers got snagged in curls and he had to gently yank to free them. He got up and retrieved the cookies, placing them in front of Tony and sitting back down.  
“We should break for food at some point.”

“Uh-huh.” Tony mumbled through a mouth full of oil slicked Oreos. “So, are you moving in your stuff or what?” 

And wasn't it tempting. To spend hour upon hour going toe-to-toe with someone just as smart if not smarter than himself for a change. The thrill of having a conversation made completely of numbers and complex abstract nonsense and being _understood_ was something Bruce had resigned himself never to be able to experience until now. Giving that away...  
The gray-haired man watched Tony pack away half a carton of cookies with gusto and decided maybe just one week more couldn't hurt. There was no one waiting for him out there, nowhere he desperately needed to go.  
“Ask me again in a week.”  
Bruce didn't know what to do with chocolate-stained boyish grin he received.  
-o-  
“Are you kidding me Tony?! Really?”

“I was just preparing for the inevitable. As soon as you get with the program we can get this show...on...the...road.” Tony signed off on the contracts for some deal he only half-cared about before handing Pepper her clipboard back. He had been working on customizing the spare apartments on the upper floors to the tastes of each Avenger. He was stuck in the designing stage and not quite content with anything he put together. 

“If they move in I'm leaving. It's one thing to live with Iron Man and it's a completely different thing to live with the rest of the Avengers under one roof. And you want to try and move Bruce in first? Is that really wise?”

“Since when have I ever had wisdom? Are we done here? Are you agreeing yet?” Tony flicked his hand and his computer system came back online, burying him in florescent blue sketches and blocks of text. 

“No, this isn't happening. We're at risk enough already with just you living here.”  
The whole mess with The Mandarin hung heavy in the air. The pair had returned to normal life but the lot of it felt like a farce. Pepper still woke up at night shaking and clammy, thinking a needle was hanging thick and heavy in her skin. She would have phantom pains of hot liquid being poured into her veins. Tony would hold her until she went back to sleep but he could tell his presence didn't help in the slightest. He had the feeling just the sight of him made her angry nowadays. She only looked at him as if he was inherently repulsive, and nothing Tony said could ever bring her to smile. 

“Think about it, if the Hulk is living with us, no one would dare to come near here. Not to mention Bruce himself is pretty great. And once we get everyone else this place'll become a fortress! No one would dare attack us between our security, Jarvis,-I mean Natasha alone could probably glare them into submission. Besides, this is all on Fury's orders.”

“What orders?”

“From that meeting a month back. The one you had to drag me out of the lab for.”

“That's every meeting. Why didn't you tell me about Fury giving you orders like that? Don't you think I should have known?”

“Oh well, I wasn't sure what color the carpet should be and I figured-”

“This isn't a joke Tony.” 

“I wasn't joking. I didn't want to bother you with it. Besides if everyone lived here it would be the greatest security system on earth. Probably in the whole universe.” Tony's eyes were sparkling but Pepper wasn't impressed. “This isn't Malibu.”

“There isn't any Malibu anymore.” 

Tony scratched the side of his face with his ring finger. “Pepper-”

For a moment the CEO looked as if she was on the verge of crying, but it was gone as soon as it had come. “I have to go. I have a meeting at seven.” The redhead turned to leave, her dazzling black heels clicking as she left. 

“Pep! Pepper!” Tony watched Pepper leave but made no attempt to run after her. He wondered not for the first time if dragging out their clearly dying relationship was worth it. The engineer had it stuck in the back of his head that the two of them would wake up one morning and everything would be like it was. But then Tony would remember there wasn't a solid point in time when Pepper and him hadn't been having a serious fight over something. There was no glorious honeymoon period to look back on. 

“Sir. Phone call from Dr. Banner.” Jarvis' voice echoed through the room. 

“Patch him through.” 

“Tony?” 

“Jarvis can you clear up the connection? He sounds like a wookie.”

“Tony, are you there?”

“Right here Brucie. What's up?”

“Just calling to check in, so you don't freak out again.”

“That was once! Only once! And two weeks is a long time for anyone!”

Bruce let out a breathy laugh. “If you say so. So what have you been up to?”

“You first.” Tony brought up footage of Bruce’s latest exploits as tracked by S.H.I.E.L.D.. He didn't even bother to cover his tracks in a half-way decent fashion as he hacked the video from their servers. Tony smiled as he watched the image of Bruce blending in with a crowd in the Ukraine as if it were nothing.  
“You're the one off playing doctor.” 

“Nothing new. Although if you could tell the men in black from S.H.I.E.L.D. to give it a rest that would be nice. They've been following me since Tuesday and it's hard to get work done with them breathing down my neck.”

“Will do. Any new viruses? Something that turns the dead into flesh-eating beasts perhaps?”

Bruce laughed again. “No, thank god no. Sometimes I think if that sort of thing happened it wouldn't surprise me. But it's same old on this end.” 

“That's bullshit, but I guess I'll hear about it later.” 

“What about you?” 

Tony looked toward the door Pepper had just walked out of not but fifteen minutes ago. 

“Fine. Pretty fine.” 

“That's good to hear. I have to go now Tony, I'll talk to you next week.”

“Alright. Don't disappear on me now.”

“I won't.” 

A click resounded through Tony's work shop signaling the end of the call. The engineer dug the heels of his palms into his eyes. “God...Jarvis shut everything down, I'm done for today.”

“As you wish Sir. And may I suggest that you at least attempt to hide your infatuation with Dr. Banner. I do believe Ms. Potts is beginning to catch on.” The lights and equipment in the lab began to flick off leaving Tony standing in the dim glow of the hallway light and the arc reactor. 

“Shut up Jarvis.” 

-o-  
Bruce didn't want to worry his friend, but he had had to dodge at least three different sets of military personal clearly from the Hulk Buster program. They had seemed intent on taking him in. And that doesn't even touch the small battalion of SHEILD agents that have decided to become his shadow for the sole purpose of staring at him as he slept. The physicist thought after New York they would at least give him a grace period. But it seemed at the very least the two parts of government didn't know what the other was doing. That was what Bruce hoped. Or else Fury really couldn't care less if the Hulk helped prevent global destruction, and he was just another one that wanted both Bruce and the Other Guy on an operating table, or suspended in saline fluid. Either way, Bruce really didn't want to bother Tony with his mess when he has a mess of his own to look after.  
A month after Bruce left the tower for good Tony had moved back to his house in Malibu and the whole thing with The Mandarin erupted into one huge ordeal. The night he saw his friend's eulogy plastered on every newspaper, and every TV screen was the first time in a long time he and the Hulk were in sync. Their minds buzzing something numb and hollow. When Tony appeared on television, back from the supposed dead he borrowed a phone to call his friend and promised he would work his way back to New York City. A week later Bruce found himself in possession of a cellphone with instructions to call Tony once every week tucked under his makeshift pillow. Bruce had followed Tony's instructions without much question, although he did wonder how Tony knew where he was, and how and who he got to slip the phone under his sleeping form. All the physicist knew was that Tony was his friend, and his friend had almost died-should have died-and he hadn't been there to stop it. In fact if he hadn't been crossing through Botswana at the time, he probably wouldn't have known anything about Stark until far after the fact.  
So he called. And he ran. And he 'played doctor' as Tony so loving put it. But the more time he spent wandering the more Avengers Tower called out to him. He couldn't help the feeling that the building was a homing beacon, signaling him to turn the plane around and call it a day. He suspected it had something to do with his frequent phone calls to Tony. He couldn't help the feeling the engineer wasn't coping nearly as well as he let on; something in his voice maybe. It was a feeling Bruce didn't think he could afford to ignore. So after hanging up on a rather uncharacteristic worrying note on Tony's end Bruce wondered how the hell he was going to get out of this side street without running into the wall of S.H.I.E.L.D agents at the end of the road or General Ross's men slowly forming a perimeter behind him. He couldn't tell if the two were working together or were just strangely coordinated, either way Bruce had had enough. He thumbed Tony's phone in his hands, eying it with amusement and annoyance as something awful and wonderful sparked into thought. He wondered if Tony would forgive him. 

-o-

It had been three weeks and Tony had electrocuted himself as least twice. He had a new burn scar somewhere halfway up his arm that was beginning to itch. He had been afraid of working on the arc reactor given that he would probably accidentally kill himself in the state he was in. Bruce had dropped off the face of the earth four weeks ago leaving the text: 'sorry bout this tony'. No further explanation, no further texts, just an infuriating sorry and then silence. According to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files Bruce just disappeared on the fringes of Kazakhstan and hasn't reappeared since. There had been whispers of him in Turkey, and a few days later in Mexico (how Bruce could have possibly gotten on a plane without any sort of detection by anyone is something Tony marveled at and didn't think too hard on). Other than that it seemed like Bruce suddenly had become slippery.  
Bruce's sudden disappearing act had left Tony worried and distracted, making stupid inexcusable mistakes everywhere he turned. Like with Pepper for example. He forgot her birthday, again.  
That had been a dick move on his part. The fight that happened after led to Pepper visiting her sister's house, packing most, if not all, of her things with her. In passing thought he wondered if his company still had a CEO but it wasn't enough of a problem for him to care. Not until it became noticeable to the public anyway, and even then. He had resorted to drinking, something Jarvis had chastised him about until he turned the AI on mute. The last thing Tony wanted to deal with was a lecture from electronic Jiminy Cricket. 

The engineer was on the floor of his workshop, machine parts scattered around him, resting in between moving from working on one new suit to another. A shot of whiskey sat just out of arms reach. He lay on the ground lazily clicking two bolts together, the metal getting slicked in brown-black sludge from his oil glazed fingers. Tony wondered in passing where on earth DUM-E had rolled off to. He had asked the robot to bring some screws from the back of the workshop and the poor dumb thing hadn't returned yet. It was bordering on half an hour now but the engineer couldn't will himself to get up and find out if his robot was on its side unable to get up like a tipped cow. 

“Tony? You in here? What happened to Jarvis?” 

Tony heard a voice but he hadn't heard footsteps. He sat up quickly, the blood rushing to his head.  
“Whose there?” He gripped a wrench that had been resting near his hip and quickly calculated how long it would take for him to get his suit on. 

“Tony?” The voice was gentle, a comfort and a question. Tony heard the unfamiliar voice come from behind him and moved to strike. The head of the wrench collided with a shin. 

“That hurt.” 

Tony looked up and locked eyes with the person standing above him. He felt the arc reactor whirl and rattle faster in his chest as his heart rate picked up. 

“Tony? It's me.” And Bruce kneeled down. “Are you okay?” Bruce raised a tanned calloused hand to check Tony's forehead for a fever but his wrist was snatched out of the air before it could reach the smooth surface of Tony's skin. 

“Bruce? What the hell are you doing here? Why didn't security warn me?” 

“No one gave me trouble on my way up here, since they know who I am, more or less. I asked Jarvis where you were and there wasn't a response. I got worried.” 

Tony felt Bruce looking him over for signs of bruising or cuts. The engineer wondered if Bruce ever looked at anyone without the quiet calculation of a doctor. 

“I put Jarvis on mute.” 

Bruce's eyebrows came low over his eyes, his features scrunched together. “Why?”

Tony sighed. “Jarvis, un-mute.” 

“As you wish, sir.” 

“Why does Jarvis sound upset?” Bruce sat down next to Tony who had shimmied his way up against the wall. 

“I was programmed to prevent Sir from harm, which includes self-inflicted harm. Mr. Stark seems to think by muting me I will 'go away'.”

“Tony.” 

“I was just drinking! See?” Tony pointed to his whiskey. “Haven’t even started drinking from the bottle yet.” 

Bruce took off his glasses and rubbed his face. “Did something happen?” The physicist’s words were calm. He fiddled with his glasses as he looked down at his lap. 

“Does something have to happen for me to drink?! Really now, I'm Tony fucking Stark, I didn't think I had to explain myself if I want to have a few cold ones.” 

Bruce didn't speak. He didn't look at Tony either. He just sat there driving Tony crazy with his scent and his presence. 

“Pepper broke up with me.” 

“What did you do?” 

“I forgot her birthday.”

“Is she still working for you?”

“I don't know-you know what we should do? Have a party, invite some models, maybe that guy from down the block who jogs every morning without a shirt, the one with the amazing pecks. Have that Thai place you like cater, I'd have to restock the bar but that won-”

“Tony,”Bruce sighed. “You should talk to Pepper.” 

“No. I shouldn't. That's definitely on the list of things I shouldn't do.” 

“Well I'm glad it's on the list, here I just thought you were being a coward.” 

That makes Tony turn toward Bruce. “Someone's a ray of sunshine today.” Now that Tony actually took a good look at Bruce he noticed that the physicist had blood running from his hairline down the side of his face and a green and purple bruise blooming on one of his arms. “Christ, Banner! What the hell happened to you?”

Bruce lifted his fingers to his forehead and dabbed at the blood there. He looked at it as if it were an experiment he was analyzing. “Nothing, you should call Pepper.” 

“Bruce, are you kidding me? You're bleeding. Do you have head trauma? Do you remember the last twelve hours? How many fingers am I holding up?”

Bruce batted away Tony's fingers. “I'm fine.” 

“Did the Hulk just speak? It sounded like the Hulk just spoke. Are you gonna go green on me?”

Bruce rested his head against the wall and closed his eyes, breathing deeply. 

Tony scrambled up from his place on the floor to get the emergency first aid kit from across the room. He took his time getting it, giving Bruce space to Zen himself out in peace. When he came back Bruce's eyes were still closed, but the creases in his forehead were gone. He looked the perfect picture of calm, even if under it all Bruce's skin was clearly buzzing with anger and annoyance. Whatever had come over Bruce had been stuffed back into place wherever he normally stored his unpleasant emotions. 

“Stay still for a minute.” Tony popped open the first aid kit and took out the antiseptic swabs first, dabbing at the scrape oozing blood, matting his salt-and-pepper curls. Tony stopped cleaning the cut for a moment when Bruce whimpered, and then worked a little quicker using tweezers to take out bits of gravel stuck in groves of his flesh. He felt Bruce's breath on the skin of his collar bone and suppressed a shiver. He hadn't realized he was straddling the physicist's lap to have better access to his forehead until now. Bruce hadn't seemed to notice or care so Tony said nothing of it and went on with his work. 

“You don't have to do that. The Other Guy will take care of it.”

“Caution is better.” Tony shifted to sit back on Bruce's thighs. “You ready to talk about what has you all green and surly, Big Guy?”

Bruce wiggled underneath Tony and the engineer took that as his cue to find somewhere else to sit. 

Bruce responded by taking a crumpled mess of wires and jagged metal out of his pocket and placing it on the floor between the two of them. It took Tony a moment to recognize the mess as Bruce's phone. 

“Really? Is that what you think of my gifts?” 

Bruce opened his eyes. They were haloed with a fluorescent green. “I was wondering how S.H.I.E.L.D. and Ross were a step behind me everywhere I went. It was your phone Tony. I thought you would have been smart enough to give me something a bit harder to track than a normal cellphone.” 

And that's when everything clicked in Tony's head. Dread flooded his veins. “I didn't think of it like that.” _'I didn't think at all actually. Good job Stark.'_

“The genius didn't think of it?” Tony wondered if this was the mistake that would finally end his life-death by hulk. Bruce sounded peeved, and nothing peeved off Bruce. “I used it to disrupt their drones. I made a new identity for myself, and then took the phone off the grid.”

Tony picked up the ruined phone and thumbed it in the palm of his hand, his fingers hovered of the power button, just out of curiosity Tony went to attempt to turn the phone on. 

“Don't pr-”

Tony pressed the power button and sparks flew from every electrically charged object in the lab. 

“-ess that.” 

“How on earth did you make a Stark phone into an EMP?”

Bruce smiled something feral and impish. “Science.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I should note that I really messed with the canon here. Spoilers for Captain America 2! Captain America: The Winter Solider took place before the events of this story, but S.H.I.E.L.D is still standing, and Nick Fury is still in charge.  
> Beta'd by the totally amazing The_Silent_Writer, any mistakes are solely my own

It took three cups of tea made with some leaves Bruce pulled from a bag in his back pocket to finally make the green-tint ringing his pupils fade away. When it happened Bruce slumped back into the armchair in Stark's living room.

“If I were Pepper I would be upset too.”

“Not the point.”

“How long has it been since she left?”

Tony swished his third glass of whiskey around, peering into the cup. “About a week and a half, maybe two.”

“Any visitors?”

“No.”

“Steve didn't visit you?”

“Why would Stars and Stripes visit? Isn't he busy saving the world from bad morals, re-teaching people the American way?”

“He said he would stop by, something about having something to tell you.”

“Oh, huh. Sure he'll come around eventually. Discover the second coming of the bubonic plague while you were out getting your doctor on?”

“Not exactly. There was something,” Bruce waved his hand about, “wrong in Latvaria. People were getting sick and turning colors.”

“That sounds familiar.”

Bruce flashed a smile. “Not green.”

“There's nothing wrong with green. Does that tea really work? I'm tempted to try some.”

“It won't get you high.”

“I'm offended you think that's why I want to try it.” Tony gives Bruce a dumb grin.

“You really need to call Pepper, Tony.” Bruce reached for the tea pot resting neatly on the coffee table and poured himself another cup.

“Where did that come from.”

“It's important. She's your CEO. What are you gonna do if she-”

“I don't want to, so I don't have to.”

Bruce snorts. “Are you five?”

“I'm offended. You've offended me.”

“I'll be in the lab when you finish calling her.” Bruce got up and took his tea with him.

“Hey! Wait! I'm still offended.”

“Phone, Tony.”

Bruce left him alone in the room.

“Bastard” Tony mumbled to himself. He looked down at his hands that were still slicked with oil. Bruce wouldn't let him back in the lab until he finished his business with Pepper. He was just as stubborn as Tony when he wanted to be.

“JARVIS, can you call Pepper?”

“Calling now sir.”

“Could have taken your time there.”

“Duly noted. Ms. Potts is on the line.”

Tony sighed and ran his hands across his face smearing oil everywhere, “Patch her through”.

“Tony” and damn if that voice couldn't freeze hell with it's fury.

“Pepper...”

“I'm busy.”

“Wait-Pepper...” Tony wondered why apologizing is so difficult. He chucked the problem into the pile of things he blames his father for. “I'm sorry.”

There was a short, burning silence. Tony felt sick.

“Is that an actual apology?”

Tony gripped his empty glass, his knuckles ashy white “I don't know how to function without you Pepper.”

Ms. Potts sighed “It's my fault. I thought you were more than you were.”

Tony flinched. “Pe-”

“You're always going to be Tony Stark. You're in your 40's; you're not going to change. I don't know why I thought you would.”

“Pepper, please-”

“I'm not quitting. You moron.”

“Oh...”

“Is that all you have to say? Is that all you were worried about?”

“No-”

“I'll see you in a month Tony.”  
The call ended. Tony wondered if he could have handled that better. He stared at the tea kettle still on the coffee table and decided, yeah, he could have.

-o-

“How'd it go?” Bruce looked up from his microscope. 

Tony looked at Bruce in quiet awe. It felt as if Bruce had always been a permanent fixture in the lab and this was just another Sunday.

“She hates me, but she still owns my company. I don't know how smart that is.” Tony sniffled and inhaled some of the oil that had found its way across his face. He gagged a little and goes to the mini-fridge in the corner to get a bottle of water.

“I'm sure she'll come around.” Bruce went back to his work.

“I don't think I want her too. Although it would be nice if she didn't hate me.”

“You think it's really over between you too?”

Tony turned back to the mess of metal and bolts he had been slapping together earlier. “Don't let me engineer while distressed, I don't know what this is.” Tony kicked the mess of jagged metallic polygons. “Like at all.” A soft bleep came from the right and Tony turned to see DUM-E holding a punctured Ziploc bag dripping screws everywhere.

“Really? Really?” Tony snatched the screws out of his creation's hands. “I blame you for this mess.” He pointed to the heap of metal at his feet. “Where were you?”

“I found him in the back of the workshop on his side. It's a mess back there, a wonder DUM-E wasn't hurt.” Bruce rubbed at his forehead.

Tony was suddenly hit with a deep appreciation for Bruce. He smiled something stupid “You're amazing”.

Bruce looked up from the microscope to write something down on a note pad next to him. He looked at Tony “You're not so bad yourself”.

The complement was off handed but still sent sparks up Tony's veins.

“I'm gonna have to take this-” the engineer gestured to the monstrosity at his feet. “-thing apart. It's a waste of scraps”.

“That reminds me. Can you help me with something?”

“Is it Hulk related, please tell me it's Hulk related”.

“It's Hulk related.”

Tony gave a fist pump accompanied by an exaggerated 'yes'. “What do you need?”

“Remember when you offered to let me move into the tower?”

Tony was bouncing now. “Yeah.”

“I was thinking-”

“And it's so sexy when you think”.

“-that if I move in my floor should be reinforced somehow? Or maybe if we could work on some sort of containment cell if the Other Guy tries to show up-”

“I'm not putting you in a cage.” Tony promptly sat down and began the process of deconstructing the metal monstrosity. 

Bruce's face scrunched and released. He sighed. “It's bad enough that I'm-”

“Nope. No cages. And what made you think your floor wouldn't be reinforced? I took the Other Guy into account in the design. He could play hopscotch all across the room while chucking things for all I care and the walls would still stand. The furniture not so much. There's not really an elegant solution to that unless everything on your floor is made of some sort of alloy too” Tony cocked his head. “It wouldn't be very homey, but...”

“How did you-”

“Vibranium alloy. It has some adamantium and titanium thrown in there. For funsies.” When Tony turned his attention back to Bruce the other man was staring off at the wall.

“Bruce?”

“I can't accept this.”

“Of course-”

“No-really-I can't. I'm not going to stay here forever, it's a waste of” he waved his hand around “everything.”

“But you would move in, even if it's just for a little while?”

Bruce turned to look at Tony, his eyes unfocused. “A little while, yes. But not forever, Tony.” Bruce pretended not to see the crestfallen look that flashed through Tony as quick as lighting.

“That's good enough for me. It's not a waste. If you're staying at all you're gonna need it.”

“So no talking you out of it, huh?”

“It's already done anyway. No reason to fight it.”

Bruce groaned and rubbed his face.

“Not only yours” Tony protested over Bruce's groan “Steve's, and Clint's, and Natasha's, even Thor for when he's on world. It should all be done in a month or two? Everything is taking longer than expected. Shit.” Tony stubbed his thumb between two bits of metal. He stuck the injured thumb in his mouth and sucked on it.

“I don't know what to say.”

“Thank you, wise, handsome, all-powerful Tony, would suffice.”

Bruce scoffed. He abandoned his work to sit next to Tony. He took hold of the two bits of metal giving his friend trouble and pried them apart for him.

“Look at you go. Don't even need the Hulk.”

Bruce seemed to struggle with something for a minute before he turned to Tony “Speaking of him, you know those nanomites you had laying around?”

“The ones that almost broke free and nearly caused several crisis including World War Three?”

“Yeah, those. How small do you think you could get them?”

Tony cocked an eyebrow. “I don't know.” His hands slowed as he unscrewed two bolts from one another. “It depends. What do you have in mind?”

“I think I've found a solution to umm...turning green, when I don't want to.”

Tony flipped the screwdriver around in his hand. “Mhmm?”

“If you could get something small enough in the mitochondria-”

“Are you trying to get rid of the Other Guy? Because I won't help you with that.”

Bruce fidgeted for a moment. “No” and just admitting that the Hulk was staying for good when he had a possible out seemed to take a toll on of him. “But if you could get something small enough to cause a reaction on a microscopic scale, maybe deal with some of the radiation in a more hands-on kind of way...” Bruce hadn't thought it all the way through. But he had tried everything; every resource available to him had been spent trying to get rid of the Hulk. This was his last ditch effort, the end of it all. If this didn't work he would stop trying. He thought he had stopped trying, that after he had fallen so low, had worked so hard just to be good he would have given up his ridiculous attempts of eradicating something as strong as the Hulk. But there he was, on the brink of making another mistake, of making himself into something worse than just the Hulk.

Tony put the tip of his screwdriver in his mouth. It was quiet for a while as the physicist let his friend sift through his own thoughts . After a long moment Tony came back to himself. He began to bounce about to a tune only he could hear. “Yeah-yeah-yeah-yeaaah” Tony stood up and wiggled his hands. “I need coffee. DUM-E, can you get the coffee pot started, let's not burn it this time.” In the background DUM-E bleeped and whirled. “Can I take a look at it all?” Bruce nodded his head to the microscope on the table and Tony hurried over to it.  
“Is this?-”

“Exactly what you think it is? Yeah.” Bruce was right there over Tony's shoulder. Arms crossed and forehead furrowed. “Seems kinda obvious now, huh?”

“I feel like an idiot.”

“You're not the only one.”

“So if we just?-”

“Mhmm. And then-”

“Merge the two of these together.”

“Let me see.-are you sure? Won't that just cause further mutation?”

“No, no, I mean the other one. The one above.”

“That's what I was thinking.”

DUM-E wheeled his way over to the pair, two mugs of black coffee sloshing about.

“Thank you DUM-E” Bruce took his cup and placed it on the table without taking a sip.

Tony took his own cup, and mindlessly sipped from it. He backed away from the microscope.  
“Would the mites stay there forever?”

“Not if we do it correctly.”

“You know this could very well end in you becoming a monster, right?”

Bruce shrugged and bit his lip. 

“Hey.” Tony made sure to catch Bruce's eye. “We won't test anything until we know for certain it's safe.”

Bruce worried at his lip some more before nodding slowly.

“Good! So explain to me some more what you were thinking.”

-o-

They spent twelve solid hours working. They would have continued if not for the fact that Bruce had fallen asleep. He had spent 20 minutes slowly drooping downward until his face was mushed against his tablet. He drooled all over it; Tony would have been grossed out if it wasn't so cute. He was tempted to put on his armor just to carry Bruce upstairs but it would probably just wake him up, and waking up in Tony's fully suited up arms probably would do nothing for Bruce's heart rate. So, not for the first or last time he wondered why he was so short and nudged Banner's shoulders.

“Come on Brucie.”

Bruce grumbled and twitched. “Where am I?”

“My lab. We were working on that thing you told me about remember?”

“Tony?”

“Yep.”

Bruce stretched awake. His bones crackled. “I don't remember falling asleep.”

“I'm not surprised. Come on, I have a guest room.”

Bruce squinted. “Where am I again?”

“The tower.”

Bruce followed Tony to the elevator, hunched and frumpy and annoyed looking until they reached Tony's floor. The engineer took Bruce straight to the spare room down the hall from his own and watched as Bruce threw off his shirt and pants without much care and flopped down onto the bed. Being tired himself and his bed being right in the next room Tony crawled into his bed and attempted to sleep.

-o-

Bruce woke up to the midday sun hitting his face. He grumbled and thrashed around until finally coming too.

“Where am I?” he mumbled to himself.

“Avenger's Tower in Manhattan” JARVIS responded.

Bruce grumbled some more, rubbed his face, and found his glasses. He shoved them onto his face and threw his legs over the edge of the bed.

“JARVIS, what time is it?”

“12:47, sir.”

Bruce squinted out of the floor to ceiling window in front of him. He scowled out at the New York skyline and bitterly wished he could drink coffee. “Thanks. Do you know where Tony is?” Bruce desperately needed a shower but didn't particularly feel like putting his dirty clothes back on. He wondered if Tony had kept any of the clothes he had left from his last visit.  
There was a long pause that put Bruce on edge. “JARVIS?”

“Sir is in the living room, down the hall.”  
Bruce got up and put his clothes back on as quickly as he could not liking the uncertainty he imagined in JARVIS' voice. He tapped barefoot through the plush carpet floor into the living room where the floor turned marble and Bruce's feet became cold.   
He found Tony sprawled out on his couch, a bottle of whiskey in hand. He wore the same clothes he had the day before, and it was clear that at least a few ounces worth of amber liquid has dripped onto his shirt.

“Bruce!” Tony smiled. Bruce frowned. “Bruce! I forgot you were here!”

“Tony?” The physicist approached his friend slowly. He came up to the coffee table in front of the couch and sat on it.

“Bruce! I forgot you were here...I went to call Pepper last night.”

“Oh...”

“I went to call Pepper...I forgot...I forgot we broke up.”

“Tony...”

“She called me an alcoholic and to go choke on it all. Cause I called after I had a few-it was just a few! I figured I would-should show her and do one better. I won't just choke on it. I'll drown in it.” He took a long swig.

Bruce's frown evened out into something unreadable. “How long have you been drinking?”

“I don't fucking-JARVIS how long have I been” Tony chuckled “drinking?”

“Since five a.m., sir”

“Since five! You would think I would be drunker than this.”

Bruce reached across to Tony and took the bottle out of his hand.

“How much did you drink?”

“I started out of shot glasses, I swear.”

“That's not a quantity.”

“There's a bottle on the floor, over there, I dropped it. And then, the other, one, somewhere.”

Bruce began to examine Tony for signs of alcohol poisoning. He wondered if he should call in a real doctor. “I think it's time for you to go back to bed.”

“It's day! See the sun! It's day. I'm not going back to bed. You know what we should do, what would really would show Pepper is if we went to Vegas. JARVIS, get the plane ready. We're going to Vegas.”

“Tony. No.” Bruce put his hands on Tony's thighs to keep him seated. Tony's eyes unfocused for a moment. The engineer looked down at Bruce's hands and blinked.

“What were we doing?”

“Sitting.”

“I think we were going to Vegas.”

“You're drunk.”

Tony pouted. “I'm always drunk. I make the best decisions while drunk. You wanna know how I made DUM-E? I was drunk. And JARVIS too. I made JARVIS while I was drunk.”

“You're sitting. And you're taking a nap until your sober.” Bruce was using the calm voice he normally only reserved for people who thought the Hulk should be put down like a stray dog. 

“Are you upset? You look upset. You get this thing, with your forehead, when you're upset.”

“Stop talking, Tony.”

“JARVIS I was serious about the plane. We're going to Vegas.”

“Noted, Sir. The plane will be ready in an hour.”

“Were going. This is happening. Get your sexy hands off my legs.”

Bruce sighed and removed his hands. “I'm not going with you.”

“What?” Tony looked baffled. “Why not? No, you're coming. Pack. Or don't pack. I can buy you new stuff later. You'd look hot in a shirt that fits you.”

JARVIS cut in, saving Bruce from having to respond. “Sir, Captain Rogers is here.”

“Show him the way up, JARV.”

Bruce quietly wondered why everything always happened at once. “Maybe now isn't the time.”

“Course it's the time, no reason to keep the good Captain waiting.”

“Tony...” Bruce was reminded of the one train wreck he watched in Minnesota. It had been slow and painful and everyone present was brutally aware of what was going to happen.

“Hello?” Steve Roger's stern, honest voice rang through the penthouse. “Tony are you here?”

“Captain!” Tony yelled. “Oh Captain my Captain!”

Steve came around into the living room and stood in the wide doorway. “Bruce? I didn't know you were here.”

“I just got here yesterday.”

Tony gave a drunken smile to both of them. “Now both my men are here. I think I had a wet dream that started like this once.”

“Tony's been drinking since five.” Bruce winced and Steve joined him.

“Five? Like in the morning?” Steve crossed the room and sat next to Bruce on the coffee table.

“Aww, come on guys, you're judging, don't judge.” 

Steve turned to Bruce. “You could have called me, to help with” he gestured hopelessly toward Tony,   
“this.”

“I'm not a 'this'! Don't talk about me, I'm right here.”

“He wants to go to Vegas, help me make sure he stays here. JARVIS, could you please cancel preparations for Tony's plane?”

A beat passed before Jarvis responded “Yes, sir. It has been canceled.”

“JARVIS! How could you? You're supposed to work for me.”

“He's a pretty coherent drunk.” Steve cocked his head to the side.

“Help me get him into bed.” Bruce stood up, his hand on Steve's shoulder.

“I am not getting into bed.” Tony scowled, but his drunkenness twisted it into something closer to confusion. “Unless you're both coming with me. Are we making an Iron Man sandwich? Can we please?”

Bruce and Steve each took hold of one of Tony's arms. They ushered a babbling, incoherent Tony Stark to his bedroom, where they undressed him and tucked him into bed.

Bruce and Steve retreated back into the living room, sinking into the couch.

“I wasn't expecting that.” Steve looked genuinely confused.

“Him and Pepper...” Bruce shrugged. 

“Oh. I'm sorry to hear that.”

“I thought he was taking it well. Apparently not.”

“They were pretty serious, from what I hear.”

“Yeah...”

The silence that followed was stifling.

“So, how has S.H.I.E.L.D. been treating you?”

“Okay. I get to spend a lot of time with Tasha and Clint.”

“That must be....”

“Yeah.”

Another bout of silence rolled in.

“Is everything okay Cap?”

“Yeah. Yeah it's fine.”

“Mmhm.”

Steve began to sweat.  
“You know how Loki destroyed New York?”

Bruce cocked an eyebrow. “Yeah? What about it?”

“Nothing.” The Captain fiddled with his fingers.

Bruce only looked at him; waiting.

“Say you knew someone did something really bad. Would you give them a second chance?”

“You're talking to someone who turns green and destroys whole swaths of city blocks, I think I'm a little bias when it comes to second chances.”

Steve's face crinkled, uncrinkled, and then he looked as if he was having some sort of epiphany. “Yeah. Guess you're right.”

“Are you gonna stick around until Tony wakes up?”

“If you don't mind? I would rather not take the trip back and forth twice.”

“Of course. Why don't you break out your notebook, I can help you cross some stuff off.”

Steve smiled. “Yeah. That would be nice.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta'd by The_Silent_Writer all mistakes are solely my own

Steve stared at the TV in fascination. He had a heavy helping of pad thai tucked between two wooden chopsticks. “Is it real?”

“There are people who think it was staged and filmed on a set, but yes, it's real.”

Steve was speechless. He shoved the food into his mouth as more of an afterthought. He chewed slowly and asked Bruce if he could rewind the clip.

Bruce found Steve's amazement over the moon landing to be adorable. He considered taking him to an observatory and watching him go bonkers over the stars. Bruce figured they should bring Thor along, just for the hell of it and make a proper outing of it.

“S.H.I.E.L.D. never showed you this?”

“No. They tried not to overwhelm me...Can we order Thai more often? It tastes...new? Different. In a good way.”

“Of course. There's a whole worlds worth of different food to try.” Bruce smiled, it was small and looked wrong on his face.

“You can go check on Tony. Don't worry, I'll be fine here.”

Bruce fidget for a moment before meeting Steve's eyes. “I'll be right back.”

“Don't worry about it. JARVIS, can you rewind the clip one more time?”

JARVIS complied with something that edged close to amusement.

Bruce walked into Tony's room. The blinds were locked over the windows, leaving the room in near darkness. The only light came from the soft blue glow of the arc reactor. Bruce was surprised to see Tony was awake, sitting completely upright, and holding his head.

“Did I get hit by a truck? I imagine this is what getting hit by a truck feels like.”

Bruce huffed and invited himself into Tony's bathroom to rummage around and find his friend painkillers.

“Seriously. Did I?”

Bruce brought back painkillers and a cup of water from the bathroom. He sat both of them down on a night stand and the engineer took them both gladly.

“I'm tempted to pour out all your alcohol.” Bruce sat on the edge of the bed. He stared Tony down and for a moment Stark was alarmed at how angry Bruce looked.

Tony took an extra gulp of water and tried to ignore the electricity shooting through his nerves, because even if an angry Bruce was terrifying, he was also undeniably attractive.

“It won't happen again.”  
“You know you can talk to me about-”

“Stop. No, really. Don't say it.”

Bruce sighed Tony's name and it made the engineer wonder how on earth he could be so hopelessly hung up on this mild-mannered scientist but be so heartbroken over Pepper leaving him. He looked at Bruce whose features seemed to soften at whatever he saw on the engineer’s face.

“Tony.” Bruce said his name again and it made Tony shudder.

Before Tony could complain or come up with something even remotely witty he was in Bruce's strong, hairy arms.

“You don't have to say a thing.” Bruce rubbed circles into Tony's back.

They stayed like that for a moment before Tony hiccuped, chocked, and began to sob into Bruce's shoulder. He clung to Bruce like the man was a lifeboat, rocking both of them with his grief.

-o-

Fifteen minutes later Tony pulled himself out of the cocoon that was Bruce's body, wiping his eyes and nose with the backs of his hand.

“Get cleaned up. There's food waiting in the living room.” Bruce cupped Tony's check and wiped away the few stray tears that had yet to run the course of his face. “Take a shower. I'll go make your plate.”

Tony nodded dumbly. He watched Bruce leave with something aching in his heart.

-o-

“Tony!” Steve looked up from his third helping of food. “We're watching Star Trek! Bruce left your plate on the bar.” Steve nodded his head to where the oversized plate of food was sitting. “It's still warm.”

Tony wordlessly went to get his plate, and sat next to Steve on the couch. “Where's Bruce?”

“He went on the balcony to meditate. He said he would be back soon.”

“Oh...” Tony looked over toward the windows, searching until he found Bruce sitting full-lotus. “He left you alone with Star Trek?! That's unacceptable. You need commentary.”

Steve chuckled and took his empty plate to the sink behind the bar. “Bruce said he would let me get a head start on the series without commentary, he wanted me to form my own opinion.” 

“Are you washing your plate? I didn't even know I had dish soap back there. Just stop. Put the plate down.”

Steve smiled at Tony and it was softer than normal, like he knew Tony's heart was a mangled mess. He finished cleaning his plate and left it on the counter to dry. “Bruce said that I would like Captain Sisko better than Captain Kirk.”

“I'm not surprised. Military man like yourself, all rules and regulations.”

“There are rules for a reason, Tony.” Steve returned to the couch. “I came here to ask you a question.”

“I knew it. Is it your apartment? Kind of cramped isn't it. Can't fit your super-solider body? Shopping the market for a new home?” 

“I was wondering if you could take a look at my bike.”

“Your bike? We're not talking about your tricycle here, are we?” 

Steve rolled his eyes. “I know Howard-”

Tony had a small, sharp intake of breath that Steve, with his heightened perception, did not miss.

“-was the one that kept it around. I'm afraid to take it anywhere else. It's practically as old as I am. It got busted up pretty bad with...everything.”

“Yeah. Yeah. Blah, blah, old, ancient motorcycle parts, blah, blah. Is that all you came here for?” 

“Not the only reason. I came to make sure you were okay.”

Tony wiggled in his seat and overstuffed his mouth with food. When he swallowed it all he gave Steve the sort of smile he normally gave the paparazzi. “Of course I'm fine. All in one piece. My house in Malibu needed to be redecorated anyway. I was more worried about you actually. With the...” Tony shrugged. “All the explosions. And S.H.I.E.L.D. nearly collapsing. And your best friend becoming the Terminator.”

“Yeah. I'm about as fine as you, I imagine.”

Tony choked on his mouthful of rice because Captain America was not supposed to be cheeky. Or see through Stark-patented sass for that matter.

“I'm back, what did I miss.” Bruce walked back into the living room. “Did Tony ruin it for you yet?”

“No. Although he hasn't had much opportunity too yet.”

“Come on! You guys act like ripping apart the bad science will ruin the fun! It only makes it better!” Tony put his plate on the coffee table and leaned back. Steve threw his arm over the top of the couch, nearly but not quite resting over Tony's shoulders. The engineer took the gesture as an invitation to lean into Steve's firm, muscular side. “Brucie, come over here! I feel like having two handsome men hanging off both my arms.”

Bruce sighed and smiled, but did as Tony asked. He sat on the couch leaving a polite distance between himself and Tony.

“You can be a well-behaved gentleman over here where I can gently fondle you.” Tony took hold of Bruce's arm and pulled on him until he scooted over closer to Tony. Bruce looked over at Steve who was wearing a bright red blush that went well past his shirt collar. They both shrugged and consented to Tony wiggling between them as he and Bruce deconstructed the mechanics of a transporter beam.

-o-

“I didn't know you and Steve were on cuddling terms.” Bruce said over the sound of running water. He was washing the few dishes left over from their meal. Tony was doing something behind him that involved his tablet and a lot of bouncing. To be honest Bruce didn't know he and Tony were on cuddling terms either. Tony had always been handsy but respectful. Bruce figured that after the moment they had in Tony's bedroom the engineer had thought Bruce wouldn't really mind a little more extended contact. Which was true, Bruce was just as touch-starved as Tony, but it was still an interesting assumption on the engineer’s part. 

“We talked. After New York. Before hell broke loose.” Tony sighed. “We sorted out our differences like adults, you should be proud.”

“Why do I feel like someone threw a punch at some point?”

“I'm glad to say it wasn't me, it was Cap, and he hit the wall.”

Bruce shook his head. “So, you really settled all your differences?”

“Well, not all of them. Then again if we weren't at each other's throats, would we really be ourselves?”

“I suppose. What are you working on?”

“I'm looking over the build of Steve's bike. I'm surprised he hasn't crushed the handlebars, they were not made with super-solider strength in mind.”

Bruce finished his work in the sink and dried his hands on a dish towel. He turned toward Tony. “You and Steve are really cozy with one another.”

“Are you jealous? Don't be jealous pudding-pop, you know I like you more.”

“Tony...”

“Yes, my darling marshmallow?”

“You didn't....”

Tony gave Bruce a shit-eating grin. “Defile our good Captain? Oh yeah.”

Bruce groaned. “Oh God! No wonder...” Bruce shook his head and the threw the dish towel on the kitchen counter. He folded his arms against his chest. “I thought you two actually came to an understanding.”

“We did, and it was glorious, one of the best 'understandings' I've ever come too.”

“Don't-For the love of...-don't tell me anything more.”

Tony winced. He hadn't wanted Bruce to know exactly how he and Steve had cleared the air between them. It had only been a one-time thing that had been wonderful but wasn't sustainable, even by Tony's standards. He was far more interested in the sexy ball of neurosis in front of him.

“Hey. Hey! Just because I'm working on Steve's bike doesn't mean I won't give my full attention to the project we started. That reminds me, I moved the science fair a few floors higher, we needed more toys than what we had available.” Tony gripped Bruce's shoulder until the physicist looked up at him in that nervous, unsure fashion that was so painfully a part of Bruce's nature Tony couldn't help but smile at it. “Are we good, buddy?”

Bruce's eyes flit from his own arms to Tony's face. “Yeah, we're good.”

Tony squeezed Bruce's shoulder. “Good.”

Tony turned away from Bruce. He rummaged through the fridge and took out an apple. “I think I'm gonna turn in early, try and finish up on some ideas before Spangles actually brings the bike over. How does starting on those nanobots tomorrow sound? Sleep, eat breakfast beforehand, I'll have JARVIS wake me up. You know your room still isn't ready...is the guest room still okay? I could move you to another guest floor if you want, if you need more space.”

“Are yo-”

“I trust you.” Tony took a bite out of his apple. “Is it okay besides that?”

“I can't...-fine. It's fine.”

“I trust you.”

Bruce nodded. “'Night Tony.”

But Tony was already gone, mumbling to himself through mouthfuls of apple as he walked to his bedroom.

-o-

When Bruce woke up he knew something wasn't right.  
It was early morning, he knew from the sunlight drizzling through the windows punctuated by flickering shadows. He looked around, the hairs on the backs of his hands and nape were standing on end. Bruce collected his sleep-dazed limbs and threw himself out of bed in search of Tony.  
He found his friend still asleep; he was sprawled over his bed in a display that made Bruce chuckle.

“Tony, Tony, did you leave an experiment running last night or something?”

Abruptly the ground quaked. The windows exploded inward, and the room was quickly blanketed with ice-like shards of glass. A small battalion Doombots followed the explosion into the bedroom. Bruce was blown back onto the ground, glass embedding into his skin. He breathed and beat back the Hulk with sheer willpower. Tony was trusting him not turn green and not twenty four hours later was Bruce about to break that trust. A wave of frustration and hopelessness settled over Bruce. He picked himself up slowly, breathing heavily threw the pin pricks of pain blooming all over his body.

“Bruce!”  
The physicist attention was quickly drawn away from his pain to where Tony was being crushed in the arms of a Doombot. The machines blasted off the same way they came in. It took Bruce five seconds to turn green.

-o-

Tony had woken up and was so sure he was having a nightmare he didn't think to put his Iron Man bracelet on. When the Doombot scooped him out of bed he was shocked at the reality of it. When he finally saw Bruce looking dumbstruck and heartbroken, laying on the ground clearly in pain, he was realized that it was not a dream-and goddamn it, how. How on earth could Doom get his bots out into the skyline of Manhattan without anyone noticing? Tony took a moment to marvel at the incompetence of the world before pulling himself together. He needed to get a way from Doom's lackeys without dropping to his death. Tony was suddenly very aware that the Hulk was ripping his way out for Bruce and hurdling toward him.

“Bruce! Hulk! Wait!” Tony watched wide-eyed as the Hulk barreled toward him. The green giant jumped through the broken windows in a beautiful display of power. He caught both Tony and the doombot, nearly crushing them both in his large green arms. The Hulk bared his large, square teeth and bit off the head of the Doombot. The act made a terrible noise; the screeching of bending metal made Tony's ears ring. The Hulk spat out the mess of metal and wire and it flew yards away crashing through the window of a high-rise. The green beast landed on his feet, creating a crater where the sidewalk in front of Stark Tower used to be; he placed Tony on his feet with a gentleness and care that couldn't be ignored. The Hulk huffed, breathing hot, heavy air over Tony, ruffling his already messy hair.

“TIN MAN OKAY?” The Hulk growled. Tony jumped, he wondered if he would ever get used to being face to face with the Hulk. Even if he wasn't a threat he was still imposing.

“Yeah. Yeah, Tin Man is fine thanks to you Big Guy.” Tony looked over Hulk's shoulder to where Doom's lackeys had landed and were slowly swarming them. “I'm not tough like you, I have to run inside and get my suit-”

Hulk took the Doombot that was still clenched in his hand and crushed it before throwing it on the ground.“STAY.”

Tony flinched. He wondered if this was a dream after all. He couldn't believe he was about to argue with the Hulk. He figured there were dumber ways to die. Maybe. “I can't stay here, it isn't safe, I'm squishy!”

“SQUISHY TIN MAN STAY.” Hulk pushed his fist through the sidewalk and huffed some more. He glared at Tony, who couldn't decide if he should be scared or annoyed.

“Fine. I'll stay. Whatever you think is best.” Tony threw his hands up in the air. Death by Hulk it was. Or at least by proxy.

The Hulk turned back to the Doombots who had now successfully made a perimeter around them. He roared and it was terrifying. If any of the glistening machines had an ounce of humanity they would have shivered. A second later the Hulk was tearing into them. Not a single bot provided a challenge and the lot of them were destroyed in a matter of minutes; nothing more than a pile of scrap metal and bits of wire. When he was finished the Hulk turned back to Tony, his eyes were brown.

“TONY, OKAY?” The Hulk padded over to him in that big, brutish way of his, staring at Tony with Bruce's eyes.

“Yeah, I told you, I'm fine, see?” Tony wiggled about. “All my limbs.”

The Hulk sighed and melted back into Bruce. Tony caught the scientist who was holding his head and groaning.

“Tony?” Bruce flashed those pretty brown eyes at Tony, all concern. The engineer sighed.  
“Tony, are you okay?” Bruce cupped Tony's face with both hands, looking him over for signs of a concussion after getting rattled around so heavily.

“I'm fine. The Other Guy took care of me.”

Bruce cocked his head but didn't say anything more. He looked around and sighed at the mess the Hulk left behind. “Let's call Steve, get him over here, try and figure this out.”

“Yeah, let's do that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know you wanna leave a comment, go for it


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta'd by the totally awesome The_Silent_Writer, any mistakes are solely my own

“Are you both okay?” Steve had come running into the lab looking wind-beaten and worried. “I came as fast as I could.”

Tony motioned for Steve to take a seat at the workshop table. “Yeah, we're fine, the Jolly Green Giant took care of it. We might want to do a sweep, make sure reinforcements aren't coming.” The engineer hopped off his stool to get coffee. 

“I don't understand why Doom would do this; it's an act of war” Steve took a seat next to Bruce. “Are you okay, Doctor?”

Bruce looked up from where he had been staring off in Tony's general direction. “Hmm? Yeah, I'm fine” Bruce tried to meet Steve's eyes and fell short of his nose.

“Richards wasn't the only one whose brain got scrambled in space. I'm gonna call the Baxter Building, make sure they haven’t been hit too.” Tony took his coffee with him into the hallway where he proceeded to make the phone call.

“Do you know why they would want to take Tony?” Steve leaned on the table, his hands folded neatly in front of him.

“There must be something Doom wants that he knows only Tony can create. I'm guessing he must want it bad if he was willing to risk an international incident. Maybe something with the arc reactor.”

“I'm calling in Natasha and Clint. I don't like the idea of Stark getting attacked in his own home twice. We need to send a clear message that we won't stand for it.”

“Are you sure we should even call them in? Maybe we should lay low for a while.”

He shook his head. “No. If we run, it will make the Avengers look weak. For Stark's future safety we have to stand our ground.”

“You like him, don't you.” Bruce finally met Steve's eyes. The Captain's skin exploded into patchy shades of red.

“Um...uh.” Steve sputtered. For a moment Bruce could see the tiny man from Brooklyn trapped in a super-soldier’s body.

“It's okay. I was just curious.” Bruce fumbled around with his own hands.

“Those bastards didn't even get a scratch! There's a hole where my windows should be and Richards didn't even know Doom was ever here!” Tony came storming back into the lab. He slammed his coffee mug down on the table and looked between Steve, who looked embarrassed, and Bruce, who was staring at the table like it had killed his family. “Did I miss something?

“No.” “No.”

“Okay...” Tony eased himself down into a chair across from Bruce.

“So, what's the verdict, what are we doing?” Tony looked between Bruce and Steve.

“We're calling in Black Widow and Hawkeye. We need to show that when you attack one of us you attack all of us.

“Alright. That's good, but do we know what Doom wanted?”

Bruce took his glasses off and sighed. “I was thinking...Doom needs something he knows only you can build, or at least something only you know. If he wanted to take out Iron Man, that would have been the time to do it, and he didn't. Whatever he needs he must need it badly. I think it's the arc reactor.”

“Nah. I don't think so. Doom likes magic, he can hocus-pocus his way out of any energy problem he was having.”

“Maybe it's not for energy.” Steve offered.

Bruce met Tony's eyes and spoke. “Maybe it's not the arc reactor...”

Tony grimaced because if it wasn't a matter of the arc reactor it was a matter of weapons making. There were only two things Tony Stark was known to make, and make well. “JARVIS, how ya doing on the hack.” Tony began to move around his workshop. A flurry of holographic screens opened with a flick of his fingers and followed him as he moved. Steve followed Tony around the room with his eyes.

“3 minutes until completion, Sir.”

“Good. I want those files off the network, who knows what Doom could have hidden in them. Bruce, you wanna take this over for me?” Tony flicked a screen over toward Bruce who caught it and looked it over.

“Sure.” Bruce put his glasses back on to take a closer look at the list of Latveria's recent imports and exports.

“Cap'.” Tony pushed a tablet into Steve's hands. “Watch the news, see what's up.”

“I'm sorry Tony, but this is an Avenger's matter. I'm not just going to be on news duty.”

Tony gave Steve a look. “I get it. Captain America's too good to just watch the news. Bruce, could you?”

“It's not like that.” Steve stood up from his seat and folded his arms in that menacing, authoritative way that got under Tony's skin.

“Then what's it like? Do tell. You're not doing anything else. Not much you can do, since you're still living an analog lifestyle.”

Steve closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “I'm going to go make some phone calls.”

“You do that 'Spangles. You do that.” Tony made himself busy with the influx of files Jarvis dumped into the system. 

Steve left the workshop. Bruce looked up from his screen to stare at Tony.

“You didn't have to do that.”

“Do what? It's the truth and he knows it.”

“He might not know anything about computer systems but he is still a tactician. He's still useful.”

“Mmhm, I'll call him when I need to figure out how to work a rotary phone.” 

Bruce sighed. He wondered at the bi-polarity of Steve and Tony's relationship. And then he began to think of Steve's full-body blush and frantic stuttering during his not-quite confession. He shook the thought from his mind and went back to the task at hand. “It looks like Latveria's been ordering more medical supplies than normal.”

The two scientists' eyes locked. Their minds raced miles a second.

“You think that sickness you saw had something to do with it?” Tony's eyes were sparkling.

“It's still an assumption at this point, but it's the only thing not normal. Something is definitely not right.”

“JARIVS, scan what we just picked up for anything about some sort of sickness. Bruce, tell me everything.”

“It was a virus. Or at least it acted like a virus, I didn't exactly put it under a microscope. It would invade the body; occasionally it would turn the victim's skin black, just like the plague, or leprosy. They began to act out of character, exhibiting anger, flashes of rage, violence. The virus-” Bruce gestured with his hands. “-overloads the human system. It feeds off of it, it demands too much of the human body and eventually it just can't take it anymore. The last I heard the death count was 15. It was moving slowly.”

“Well it sped up. Look at this.” Tony turned his screen toward Bruce. Bruce walked over and looked at the mountain of medical records. He shuddered. 

“I don't understand. This is becoming a pandemic. Why hasn't Doom said anything about this?”

“Could you imagine? Doom admitting weakness, that he needs help!? Psst. Have better luck getting pigs to fly.”

Bruce took hold of the screen and flipped through the files, reading quickly and efficiently.

“I didn't know you could speed-read.” Tony said bending down and resting his head on Bruce's shoulder.

Bruce smiled a small smile. “It can't be that impressive. You speed-read all the time.”

“I don't speed-read, I glance. I glance at things.”

Tony gently, but firmly nudged his finger into Bruce's hip.  
“Ouch! What the hell Tony!”

“It's for science. Curiosity. Seriously, how do you keep it together?” 

“By keeping away from men with fidgety fingers. Can we stay on topic here?”

“Ha ha. Very funny.”

“Haven't you seen enough of the Other Guy today? Wouldn't want to wear out all that fun in one day.”

“Have you always been this surly?”

“I was born like this.”

“Marry me.”

“Sir, it appears Agent Romanoff and Agent Barton are on the roof.” JARVIS voice echoed throughout the workshop.

“It looks like your ever so romantic proposal is going to have to wait.”

“Fucking Fury misplacing his agents. We were having a moment.” Pepper's voice rang in Tony's head, “I was having ten percent of a moment,” her half smile playfully mocking him. He felt his heart drop and all his joviality fell away from him.

“Let's go pick up the rest of the flock.” Bruce turned around, dislodging Tony's chin. “Tony? Are you okay?”

Tony blinked his eyes quickly and took a deep breath. “Yeah. I'm fine. Do me a favor, let's never mention moments again. Just delete the word 'moment' from your vocabulary.”

Bruce looked Tony over, analyzing him. “Sure.”

The engineer placed a hand on Bruce's lower back, ushering him out of the lab. “Have I told you about the first time I accidentally created a bomb? It was an awful, awful experience, I did it again a few weeks later.”

Bruce listened quietly and let Tony lead him out of the workshop.

-o-

The helicarrier hovered over Stark Tower, looming. Tony glared at it for a moment before he turned and glared at Steve who had apparently taken the stairs.

Natasha Romanoff stood arms crossed next to Clint Barton, who was wearing an impassive face like a pro. The two parties met halfway.

“Dr. Banner, Stark.” Natasha nodded at both of them. “Steve.” She walked up to Steve and gave him a hug as everyone looked on in shock.

“Tasha.” Steve replied.

“I'm jealous Nat. He gets hugs. I want hugs.” Clint frowned ever so slightly.

“You can get hugs when you stop throwing yourself off of skyscrapers without warning.”

“Steve throws himself off planes!” Clint folded his arms.

“Planes aren't skyscrapers and Steve is enhanced. You are not.”

“Hey Hawkeye, I don't think we've ever officially met. Outside of the deadly, alien invasion. Tony Stark.” Tony offered Clint his hand.

“Clint Barton. I look forward to eating all your expensive food.”

Tony gave a fierce smile. “I think I'm going to like you. Good luck getting to it before Rogers, he eats constantly, it's fascinating.”

Steve huffed. Natasha cocked her head at Tony, eyebrow raised.

“Come on Stark, I like being the king of assholes. I worked hard for my crown. Don't steal it.”

Tony threw his arm over Clint's shoulders the same way he throws his arm over models. “Calm down Legolas. You want a new bow? I'll make you a new bow. It'll be a peace offering. You'll wanna throw away that flimsy S.H.I.E.L.D. issued stuff after you get a taste of Stark tech.”

“Is your tech the only thing I'll get to taste?” Clint briefly let his eyes rove over Stark's body.

Was that annoyance on Natasha’s face? Bruce wasn't sure, it is always hard to tell with Natasha, but he could have sworn for a moment she looked very annoyed.

Tony licked his lips. “Maybe. Well see about that later. Bow first.” The pair disappeared down the stairway to the elevator chattering as if they had known each other forever.

“Do you think we're gonna have a problem leaving those two alone?” Steve asked Natasha.

She shrugged. “Maybe.”

“Oh boy.” Bruce looked over at Steve who looked as if he had swallowed a frog. “Steve, Ms. Romanoff, do you want to look over the information we've found so far?”

“Yes. Show us what you've found. Maybe by the time those two are done getting acquainted we'll have a plan.” Natasha nodded. “Dr. Banner, if you would show us the way.”

“Sure.”

-o-

“There's a link missing in your logic, Doctor.”

“I know. Even if we are right, and there is a correlation it still doesn't explain what they want with Tony.”

Natasha and Bruce were sitting in Tony's living room. Steve was standing in that menacing fashion only he could conjure up watching the windows of Tony's bedroom be replaced. The engineer had insisted over the intercom that these guys were trustworthy, but after what happened with S.H.I.E.L.D Steve trusted very few people. Natasha seemed to understand, and Bruce just gave him a knowing look that Steve couldn't bear to have directed at him.

“Captain? What do you think?” Bruce asked.

“I think we need more Intel. And I don't like the way we might have to get it.”

“You don't think we can continue to hack Doom and find what we want?”

“I think it's only a matter of time before Doom finds you snooping in his stuff. And what happens then?”

“So, what? You want to go into Latveria and snoop around in person? That's just as dangerous.” Bruce leaned forward in his seat, resting his elbows on his knees.

“I agree with Steve.” Natasha made eye contact with Steve and nodded. “We go in with a small team, we find what we're looking for, and we leave.”

“I couldn't disagree with that more. Even if we find out why Doom wants Tony, then what? Do we help Doom deal with his crisis? What are we hoping to achieve?”

“Doom may be evil but the people of his country are not. They shouldn't have to suffer, if we can help it” Steve said with certainty.

Steve and Bruce were clearly not having the same conversation any more; the physicist held his tongue.

“Steve, I think you and me should go in together.” Natasha rolled her hips and got comfortable on the couch.

“We're leaving Hawkeye behind?” Steve watched the window repair men leave, and nodded when they asked Steve to thank Tony for his patronage. When they were gone he sat himself in an armchair.

“If something goes wrong on this end I want someone here to make sure the playing field is a little more even.”

Steve cocked his head in thought for a minute. “Alright. He stays. Should we go find Clint and Tony?”

Bruce and Natasha nodded.

-o-

“Shit!” Steve ducked as the door to the workshop opened; Natasha and Bruce stepped out of the way as a foam projectile went flying through the air. 

“Steve? I didn't know you cursed. That's not very American of you.” Tony looked up from the scope of a Nerf gun. A foam pellet hit his head. “Ow. Come on, that's cheating.”

Clint shrugged. He had been crouching, partially shielded behind the workshop table. He shot off his own Nerf gun again, hitting an unamused Tony in the shoulder. 

“You already know I curse Tony, I didn't think you would forget so quickly.”

That seemed to leave Tony speechless.

“We have a plan, if you would both like to hear it.” The group outside of the workshop invited themselves in. 

“Go for it.” Tony shot a Nerf pelt at Steve, who caught it mid-air and scowled.

“This is serious.”

“I am being serious. You have fantastic reflexes by the way. We should do tests.”

“Tony.” Bruce came out from under Steve's impressive shadow and made his way across the room. He gently wrestled the Nerf gun out of the engineer’s hand and placed it on the table. “Steve, please go on.”

Everyone gravitated toward Tony's workbench as Steve began to talk.

“This morning, at 8:35, Tony was attacked by Doom's robots-”

“Doombots, he calls them Doombots-”

“Stark.”  
“Tony.”  
Natasha and Bruce said in near unison.

“Clarifying” Tony raised his hands in mock defeat.

Steve continues with a frustrated huff. “Stark was attacked in his bedroom. The assailants proceeded to attempt to kidnap him and they were intercept and neutralized by the Hulk. The altercation was over by 9:15 later that morning. After the attack Dr. Banner and Mr. Stark proceeded to investigate Doom's motives. During their investigation they found an unusual influx of medical supplies being imported into Latveria. Dr. Banner had reason to believe that it bared some relation to an illness he saw during his travels. They believe that this must have something to do with why Doom needs Stark. At this moment we don't know why he would need anything in Stark's skill set, or even if the two incidents are even related. The plan is to take a small team, Natasha and myself, into Latveria to do reconnaissance. We will go in and search for Doom's motivations, and then we return to bass and debrief. Questions?”

“Nat. What happened to laying low?” All mischief had bled out of Clint's features the moment Natasha's name had been said.

“This is different.”

“It's not and you know it.”

“Later.” Natasha’s words had a finality that left no room for argument. Clint frowned.

“So Katniss stays with us?” Tony asked.

“He stays for your protection. I'm leaving Bruce in charge.” Steve responded. “Natasha and I are suiting up and leaving after we both make some phone calls.

“Are you sure you wanna leave me in charge Captain? I'm not always...clear-headed.”

“I have faith Stark and Barton will be able to handle teamwork in a firefight if it even comes to that. Right now I have confidence that you are the only one capable of making adult decisions.”

Tony rolled his eyes. Clint chuckled.

“Steve, I'd like to get this over with as soon as possible.” Natasha shifted her weight.

Steve nodded. “Alright. Stark, I'm leaving the shield with you. It's too flashy to bring along.”

“Do I get to play with it?”

“No.” Steve left with Natasha; leaving Clint, Bruce, and Tony awkwardly looking at each other.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember when this story was only supposed to be seven chapters? I lied.  
> Beta'd by The_Silent_Writer, all mistakes are solely my own

Clint looked at the workshop door, clearly agitated. He excused himself and left after Steve and Natasha. The door swished quietly as Clint left, and the lab became silent.

“Just us now Brucie.” Tony tapped on the table.

“Did Steve really just leave me in charge?” Bruce scratched his hair, ruffling the already ruffled curls.

“Yep. You're the big daddy of the house now. Guess it doesn't matter that I own the whole damn house.”

“Don't take it personal.”

“Pretty sure it was personal. I'm hell bent on giving Rogers a hard time, just to spite him.”

“That's different from normal how?”

“We should one-up them.”

“Tony-” Bruce placed his elbows on the table and hunched over.

“-we can find everything we need to know about Doom's motives from right here. Did you tell them reconnaissance is dumb? Because it's dumb. It's unnecessary, dangerous,-”

“The Captain seems to think it's for the best. I think we should trust his judgment.”

“Bruce.” Tony stared down the physicist until he began to fidget.

“Alright. I know it's a bad idea. I told him it's a bad idea-”

“-and he didn't listen-”

“-but Natasha agreed with him and if she agrees I think it must be worth doing.”

“Are we really trusting her judgment? She's a spy, who knows what her motives are.”

Bruce was silent for a moment; hyper-aware of Tony moving around him, the engineer already fidgeting his way back into his work.  
“I don't think she's like that anymore. After what happened in D.C....I don't think it works like that for her anymore.”

“You're underestimating. Thought you'd know better, mild-mannered scientist like yourself.”

Bruce chuckled. He sat himself down in a stool and turned his attention back on Tony. “You have a point. What are you working on?” 

“I'm serious about one-upping them. If I have my way I'll have what we need before they even land in Doomsville.”

Bruce sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “You're going to do it even if I ask nicely for you not to, aren't you.”

“You know it.”

And Bruce let out another world-weary sigh. “What can I do?”

Tony flicked three screens at Bruce and handed him a tablet. “I need you to go through all this.”

“Couldn't you have JARVIS-”

“I didn't ask JARVIS. I asked you.”

Bruce huffed to himself and did what Tony asked; keeping busy until Clint returned.

-o-

Clint came back into the lab looking very upset. He picked up the discarded Nerf gun still sitting on the workshop table and shot off a few bullets in Tony's direction.

“Hey! Hey! What gives?” Tony turned away from where he had been typing furiously. “JARVIS, can you take over for a minute. Bird brain is having a bitch fit.” JARVIS quietly complied as Tony turned himself toward Clint, his arms folded.

“What the hell is up with you and Steve?” Clint lowered the toy gun but did not look any less upset.

In the background Bruce groaned. He crumpled down into himself like a sad wet napkin.

Tony cocked his eyebrow at Clint and walked up to him, all threatening swagger and bravado. “Is there a problem?”

“Rogers just took my best friend across the world to search for something we can find on a computer.”

“Told you! Bruce said the same thing.”

“Please keep me out of this.” Bruce tapped away at his tablet, methodically going through the periodic table of elements in his head.

“What's going on between you and Rogers, because if he's going to act like this every time you trip and bruise yourself-”

“-Nothing's happening.”

Clint looked over Tony for a moment, analyzing him. “Goddamn it Stark. Really? Rogers? Ain't he supposed to be innocent?”

Tony sighed dramatically. Bruce tried to become one with his chair.

“Congratulations. You got Captain America to think with his dick.” Clint paced for a moment. He ran his hand through his hair. 

“Why didn't you say anything, if you thought it was a bad idea?” Bruce spoke up, still staring at his tablet.

“I did. Nat didn't listen.” Clint groaned in frustration.

“Take a deep breath for a minute. Ms. Romanoff doesn't look like the type of woman to take unnecessary risks. She must have a reason, even if it's not apparent.” Bruce was looking at Clint now. He watched the archer slump down into a defeated lump against a wall.

“Fine. You're right.” Clint took a moment to compose himself. “I'm sorry for shooting you, Stark. I shouldn't have done that.”

“Yep, no problem. Can you take a breather before you accuse me of ruining your life next time?”

“Really though? Captain America?”

“We're not talking about this. I'm officially done. Bruce, can you show Agent Barton to an extra guest room? I don't want him in my lab anymore.”

“Whatever Stark. Just hurry up and find what the hell Doom is planning.”

“Bruce? Could you, please?”

Bruce motioned for Clint to follow him and the archer complied.

-o-

“Aren't you a little mad?” Clint asked. He had put the few belongings he had in an extra guest room on the same floor as Bruce and Tony. The two of them were sitting in the kitchen now; Bruce slowly sipping tea, Clint eating left over Thai he found in the fridge.

“About what?”

“Tony and Cap', I thought you and Tony were...”

“Were what?”

“Making the two-backed beast. He seems attached to you.”

“We're just friends.”

“Mhmhm” Clint hummed through a mouthful of food.

“Really, just friends. I'm thinking about making curry tonight.”

“Now you tell me this?” Clint took his fork out of the take-out carton and gently slammed it on the counter.  
Bruce shrugged. “I should probably get started on it, actually.”  
Bruce slowly got out of his seat and began to move around the kitchen, collecting pots from the cupboard. He rummaged around the fridge for ingredients. 

“Do you wanna watch a movie after dinner or something? I can already tell being cooped up in here is gonna be boring.”

Bruce thought about Tony down in the lab still working on uncovering Doom's motives. The physicist felt wary of leaving his friend alone for so many reasons, but Steve's blushing face popped into his mind and he suddenly did not want to see Tony at the moment.

“Feels kind of irresponsible. Shouldn't we be watching Tony? Or helping him?”

“I'm sure he'll be fine. Besides even Doom isn't dumb enough to try the same trick twice.”

Bruce's eyes flit across the contents of the fridge as he thought. “JARVIS, if Tony needs anything can you let us know? Tell him I'll be in the lab later.”

“Will do, Doctor Banner.”

“Thanks.”

“So do you have a movie in mind?” Clint asked.

“No, but if you don't mind abandoning the movie idea I think I've thought of something better.”

-o-

“You are a bad man, Doc.”

Bruce chuckled dryly. “Tell me something I don't know.”

“Seriously, I didn't peg you as the mischievous type. It's like you read my mind, I wanted to crawl in these things since the helicarrier touched down.”

“I figured a hawk would want a nest. Birds nest in air vents all the time. You're gonna turn left now, if you look up, those vents eventually lead to a way outside.”

“Ha ha, very funny. It is very spacious in here I guess. I could bring some pillows, make a fort.”

“I wouldn't recommend that. During the winter it says here that some of these get heated.” Bruce was yelling toward a wall in his bedroom. He was showing Clint around the air ducks just for the hell of it. Directing him with the blueprints of the tower via tablet; all with JARVIS' permission of course.

“Could you tell me which ones? I'd rather not find out first-hand.”

“Sure, uh, JARVIS could you color code these for me?”

“Of course, Doctor.” JARVIS complied and Bruce's tablet glowed red and gray.

“Thank you. Clint, give me one second I need to go check the curry.”

“No problem, seriously, it's ridiculously comfortable in here.”

Bruce found Tony in the kitchen shoving in spoonfuls of white rice straight from the pot.

“Tony, that rice isn't cooked yet.”

“Like hell it is.” The engineer shoveled in one more spoonful before closing the pot. “I came up here for a reason, but the food, you cook? Why haven’t you cooked before?” 

“You have...” Bruce gestured at the rice stuck to Tony's cheeks and facial hair.

“Huh? Mm.” Tony pushed some of the grains on his cheek into his mouth. “Mm! Seriously, I came up here for a reason.” 

“You still have...” Bruce gestured again at Tony's face.

“Where?”

Bruce walked across the kitchen closing the gap between the two of them. “You couldn't wait until it was done?” Bruce took hold of Tony's chin in one hand and began to wipe away the stray rice with the other.

“I was hungry. Don't just wipe it off, come on, it's perfectly good rice.”

Bruce huffed. The warm air flicked across Tony's face. The physicist gathered a few grains on his index finger and pushed them against Tony's mouth. The engineer let Bruce feed him; his tongue flicked across his friend's finger. Bruce looked into Tony's big, very brown eyes and wondered if Tony knew just how brown they were. If Pepper had appreciated them when she had the chance. The physicist held his breath and swiped his finger over Tony's tongue, it was warm and wet under his skin. Bruce watched in awe as Tony let out a quiet moan. Something molten hot and dangerous was boiling inside of Bruce. The word 'mine' blared in his mind, abrasive and consuming for one strange torturous moment. 

Someone let out a wolf-whistle that scared Tony and Bruce back into themselves.  
“Who needs paper-view? Not me that's for damn sure.”

“Where the fuck--Barton!” Tony turned toward the nearest air vent in a flurry of anger and confusion. “How!? Why!? Get out of there!”

“No. You can't touch me in here.” Clint's voice echoed slightly against the metal walls.

“My tower, my rules. Out. Now.”

“I can see your boner” Clint stage whispered. 

Tony cried out in frustration. He glared up at the air vent. “If you don't come out I'm going in.”

“I don't believe you.”

“Believe, Katniss.”

“Fine, I'm coming out. You won't hurt me. Bruce won't let you.”  
Clint opened the vent with alarming ease and jumped down.

“Explain what you were doing in there.” Tony's stance was all Iron Man, sturdy, imposing, and angry.

Bruce wedged himself between Clint and Tony. “It's my fault. I sent him in there; I was hoping to gather data on the dampeners you have on the tower. If they extended inside the ducts, I was worried it was a potential security threat.”

“Next time you do that let me know.”

“Sir yes Sir.” Clint gave a mock salute.

“I'm sorry.” Bruce fidget with his hands.

“Sir, I gave them permission. It is a potential security threat.” JARVIS cut in.

“And what did you guys find?”

“The tests conclusively proved that the dampeners are in effect even in the air vents.” JARVIS said before Bruce could cobble together a fake conclusion.

“That's good to know...”

“You came up here for something?” Clint asked.

Tony rolled his eyes, clearly still agitated. “This.” He shoved his tablet into their faces. A surveillance video played of a large gateway glowing orange somewhere in Latveria. Every now and then something would come out of it that would be covered in thick black tendrils and occasionally striped with white. Doom's soldiers were quick to attack them, or at least contain them with occasional help from Doom himself.

“What the flying...” Clint gasped.

Bruce sighed, rubbed the bridge of his nose and put his glasses on. “Let's eat dinner first. And then figure out what this is. Clint, could you call Natasha and Steve back to base?”

“Sure, Doc.” Clint wandered into the living room to make the call.

“Do we know what it's a portal too?” Bruce asked.

“No, but later in the video it gets worse.” Tony skipped to a different part of the video and turned the tablet back to Bruce.

It showed another creature coming out of the glowing gateway. Black tendrils accented with white. It glowed in the middle, a familiar blue circle brilliant in comparison to the rest of its body.

“That looks like the-”

“Arc reactor? Yeah.”

The pair watched as Doom and his soldiers attacked the creature. It's take down was signaled by the boom of a rocket launcher fired at close range. The thing crumpled in on itself. Tony paused the video and tapped absentmindedly on his own arc reactor.

Bruce looked at Tony who was currently lost in thought. He suddenly felt guilty. Something had come over him a moment ago that was dark and lustful. It hadn't been appropriate; painfully far from platonic; wrong. He was not attracted to Tony. Sure they were friends, and he didn't know what he would do with himself if anything were to happen to him. Level New York City, probably. But he hadn't looked at Tony with anything more then a platonic gaze since the moment the engineer invited Bruce into his home. Guilt wrapped around the physicist like a vice, and he knew he needed to apologize. 

“Hey, Tony?”

Tony took his eyes off his tablet and looked down at Bruce who was fidgeting terribly.

“I'm sorry.”

“For what, Einstein?”

“Uh...”

“Steve and Nat are on their way back. Do you wanna wait for them to get back for dinner? They said there ETA is about an hour. Apparently they had to stop somewhere in Canada for a while because something about a stray dog finding it's way on board or something, I don't really know.” Clint came back into the room snapping his phone closed.

Bruce stopped fidgeting, electing instead to shove his hands in his pockets. “The whole thing was doomed from the start. Sure, I guess we should set the table.”

-o-

“Doctor, it's nice to see you again. Where is everybody?” Natasha nodded to Bruce in greeting. They were on the roof again; the sunset painting New York a soft glowing red.

“Clint and Tony are bonding over the amount of toy guns Tony has stashed around the house. I figured I should come up here and give you fair warning.” 

Natasha let loose a small smile. “Thanks.”

“Where's Steve?” Bruce looked around and then up at the hatch of the helicarrier. “Oh, there he-” Bruce watched Steve bobble around the open hatch. His back was turned to them as if he were trying to keep something in. Natasha turned to see what Bruce was staring at. The words “No! I'm coming with you!” drifted over to them.

“Ms. Romanoff, who's in the bus?” The hairs on Bruce's arms began to stand on end. Before Natasha could respond a man with a metal arm pushed past Steve with what had to be impressive strength to make Steve stumble like that. The man marched away from the helicarrier.

“Bucky! Wait!” Steve ran after him and grabbed hold of the man's shoulder. They argued a bit; only the words 'please' and 'I promise' made it over to their audience. Then the man grabbed hold of the Captain and pulled him into a kiss that looked rough and painful. He said something and Steve nodded dumbly at it. They all watched as the man let go of the Captain and in the blink of an eye he was gone, as if he had never truly been there to begin with. Steve took a moment to gather himself and eventually walked over to where Natasha and Bruce had quietly watched him.

“So.” Bruce said. “Your love life.”

“Let's...let's not.” Steve was a dazed blushing mess.

“Stray dog, huh?”

Natasha shrugged. “We can talk about this when we're not on the roof.”

“Can we not tell Stark about this?” Steve pleaded.

Bruce cocked an eyebrow.

“Not because-because Howard...Bucky...Bucky...”

“That was the Winter Soldier and he killed Stark's parents.” Natasha cut in for Steve. He gave her a look both apologetic and thankful.

Bruce nodded slowly. “Okay...Okay...let's just” he gestured hopelessly “later. Without Tony.”

They both nodded in agreement. 

-o-  
The moment the elevator arrived on the penthouse floor Bruce knew any hope of having a quiet, restful night was ruined. Tony was carrying Steve's shield in both arms cradling it in a bear-hug, and giggling all the while as if he were mad.

“What did I say about the shield?! I swear to God, Stark!” Steve rushed out of the elevator and snatched his shield out of Tony's hands. 

“Stark, where's Clint?” Natasha asked, arms folded.

“Bathroom. Will you relax Rogers? I was just moving it.”

“Did you set it up yet, Stark?” Clint yelled from down the hall.

“Set up what, what were you about to do with my shield?!”

“Oh shit! Rogers is back?” Clint's voice came from down the hall again.

“Shut up Clint!” Natasha yelled back and followed her friend's voice.

“I don't mess with your armor, I don't understand-; I asked you for one thing Tony!”

“Will you calm down? Bruce make Rogers calm down.”

Bruce took a deep breath and sunk into the couch.

“You're like a child!” Steve yelled. “No one can leave you alone for ten seconds!”

“You're over reacting! This is uncalled for. Everyone acts like a child compared to you. Can you even sit with that stick up your ass?”

“I don't know Tony, you have more experience having things shoved up your ass!” 

A whip of lighting and a crack of thunder boomed over the arguing.

“Oh don't come to me with that Rogers!”

“Nothing is ever off-limits with you Stark, I'm just making sure the playing field is even.”

“Because you're the king of fighting fair?! Ha!”

“Put on the damn suit, Stark!”

“Not again” Bruce mumbled. He curled himself up into a ball, all exhausted gangly limbs piled on top of one another.

“FRIENDS!” A familiar voice broke up the fighting. “IT HAS BEEN TOO LONG!”

Everything went silent as everyone looked at the intruder.

Bruce was the first one to break the silence, his voice muffled from speaking into his knees “Hi Thor. We were just about to have dinner.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta'd by The_Silent_Writer; all mistakes are solely my own

Bruce excused himself from the room and exited out onto the balcony.

“Friends? I am sorry if this is a bad time. But it is urgent.” Thor dropped his hammer on the floor and folded his arms.

Steve and Tony backed away from one another grudgingly. Aggression still ran between them heavy and boiling hot. They gave their attention to Thor.

“Hey thunder-buns. You here about the portal?”

“How did you know about the portal?” Thor's voice boomed throughout the penthouse.

“I was kidnapped. Or it was attempted kidnapping. Tony-napping really, if we're getting technical. Dr. Doom. It was a thing. Do you wanna take off your shoes, maybe hang your hammer on the coat rack? Like Bruce said, we're having dinner.”

“What?”

“Take off the cape, relax, might as well since you're standing in my living room.”

“It's nice to see you Thor.” Steve ran his hand threw his hair as he spoke. He looked up at Thor, tried his best to smile, and failed.

“I am sorry to disturb you. It is a bad time indeed.”

“Thor is here!” Tony yelled back into the penthouse.

“We know!” Natasha called back from down the hall. “Be out in a minute!”

“That's sketchy. Does that sound sketchy to either of you?” Tony looked at both Steve and Thor for reassurance.

“That's enough. Dinner now.” Bruce returned from the balcony. He took hold of Tony's arm and pulled him toward the kitchen table.

“Come on Bruce, let go.”

“Five seconds from turning green, I wouldn't test my patience if I were you.” Bruce whispered, knowing only Tony would take them as only half an actual threat. He watched Tony seat himself and then gestured for Steve to follow the billionaire’s lead. “Steve, away from Tony. Far away from him.”

“Who made Bruce mad?” Clint wandered into the kitchen with Natasha on his heels. The pair were quick to find seats of their own.

“I'm not mad.” Bruce set an extra place for Thor, who sat at the table as if he were not quite sure if it was what he should be doing.

“He's mad. Who was dumb enough to anger the man who turns into a wrecking ball?” Clint asked.

Everyone looked toward Tony.

“Really? Why is everyone looking at me? Look at Thor, he's wearing a cape.”

“I'm not mad.” Bruce repeated.

“What did you do, Stark?” Steve began to glare at Tony and that was all it took to get them going again.

Bruce took the opportunity to plate everyone's food.

“-I didn't do anything-”

“-his face says different-”

“-oh because you're the certified Bruce whisperer-”

“-I'm not the one who upset him-”

“Do you think they're gonna have sex on the table?” Clint whispered to Natasha between spoonfuls of curry.

She let out a sigh and looked at Bruce. “This curry is amazing.”

“Thank you.” Bruce nodded and turned back to his food.

“Friends? The news I carry is very urgent.” Thor said. He looked like an oversized child sitting at the table, everything strangely tiny in comparison to him. He looked about the room confused and worried.

“You might have to wait a moment for the kids to settle down.” Bruce nodded over to Steve and Tony, who for being on opposite ends of the table were arguing with much gusto.

Natasha looked between Tony and Steve. Only Clint noticed the growing irritation radiating off of her, and wasn't surprised when she stood up. The abruptness of her movement made everyone stop talking. She planted her hands on the table. “Stark. Rogers. Enough.”

Silence fell over the table. She nodded at Thor. “Speak.” She sat back down, the picture of contained irritation.

“A man with a metal face has opened a portal upon a realm he knows nothing of. I do not know his motives but if the portal remains open it is a danger to your world.”

“We know that already Point-Break. Skip to the good part.” Tony spoke around a mouthful of food.

“That is all I know. The All-Father himself sent me here. The portal threatens the stability of all the nine realms.”

“How? Is the threat that big?” Steve leaned forward over his food, effortlessly slipping into Captain-mode.

“The metal man has opened a gateway into another set of realms. They are far off. Even Heimdall cannot see them.”

Steve began to think out loud. His forehead scrunched into wrinkles as he spoke. “By another set of realms do you mean-”

“-Another universe.” Tony was triumphant in his revelation.

“He opened a doorway into a universe parallel to ours. That explains the-” Bruce gestured at his chest.

“Arc reactor. In the...oh.” Tony went very quiet. He sloshed his curry around his plate.

“The creatures that crawl out of the portal are very dangerous. They do not stop when attacked; they have no fear of being hurt. Most seem to attack as if they have no mind.”

“Most?” Clint asked.

“This doesn't make sense. They must be carrying some sort of virus that can be transmitted to humans that makes them more like...them. Maybe it's how they procreate.” Bruce said. 

“I think they must have been human once. I mean how else would one of them have...” Tony blinked slowly and pushed his food away.

“Do you think they were like us? Until the Dr. Doom of their world did the same thing? Open a portal, let the virus in, like a cycle.” Steve asked.

“Perhaps.” Thor said. “We must stop him here. The creatures and their illness are too great a threat. If left unchecked they will bring an end to your world.”

“Awesome. Anyone else get tired of apocalypses? What is this, the fifth? I'm getting pretty tired.” Tony said.

“I second that.” Clint said.

“I think we've learned all that we can tonight. We should all turn-in and reconvene tomorrow.” Steve stood up and began to put his plate in the sink. Everyone else followed.

“Cap, Thor, I can have JARVIS show you to your rooms.” Tony stretched as he spoke.

“Not me. I think I'm gonna head home.” Steve went to grab a sponge to clean the dishes and Bruce waved him away from it.

“Are you sure? It's getting late. Everyone else is already here.” Bruce said. He gently nudged Steve away from the sink and began to do the dishes himself.

“I'm sure. There's some stuff I should check in on.”

“Don't let us stop you Cap'. Go on.” Tony said as he walked around Steve. “I'll be around. See you all later.”  
“Is it just me or does Stark get more assholeish at night?” Clint asked. He picked up a kitchen rag and began to dry the clean wet plates.

“He's just worried.” Bruce said. “He saw his other self die on the surveillance tape he found earlier. One of the creatures had an arc reactor in its chest. If everything we believe is true then that was probably another Tony.”

“Doesn't excuse bad behavior.” Natasha took the dry plates out of Clint's hands and began to put them away. How she knew where to put everything was a mystery Bruce did not attempt to solve. “Everyone here has died at least once.”

“The Man of Iron does seem quite upset.” Natasha made to reach a high cabinet, and Thor opened the cabinet for her. He put the plate she had in her hand away with a smile.

“I think Tony only has two settings and one of them happens to be obnoxiously upset.” Bruce chuckled to himself. “I'm more surprised about Steve.”

“Don't be.” Natasha said. “He has a whole lot of pent up steam and nowhere to blow it.”

“Maybe Steve and Tony will settle down and sort each other out.” Clint said.

“That's nonsense.” Bruce said.

“I'm with Bruce.” Natasha said. Clint raised his eyebrows at her and she shrugged. “It's a bad match.”

“Are they always like this?” Thor asked. 

“No.” Bruce swashed suds around the inside of a cup. “They get along. Occasionally. I think when they're fighting they forget they're actually friends.”

“I'm taking over.” Natasha took the sponge out of Bruce's hands and gently pushed him away.

“No, I have it.”

“Go meditate. You haven’t today, have you?”

“How did you...?” Bruce wiped his hands on the bottom of his button-down.

“It's all in your shoulders.”

Bruce chuckled dryly. Of course she would know, it was probably all in his file. “I'll go do that. I guess.” Bruce left for the balcony again, leaving his shoes in the living room.

-o-  
Bruce had gotten in a solid thirty minutes of meditation before the events of the day began to creep up on him. He tried to ignore them but they were persistent. Tony nearly being kidnapped, Steve's lack of focus, the two of them fighting, the Winter Soldier and Steve, and then the portal into another universe. Watching that other Tony die. Bruce sighed. Straightened his back. Tried to clear his mind. But then he remembered Tony's face in his hands. Warm brown eyes. Tony's tongue under his fingers. And a soft, quiet rumble that shook Bruce down, down, down-  
He took a deep breath and put his fingers to his neck to count his pulse.

“PUNY BANNER.” The Hulk rumbled in his mind.

“Shut up.” Bruce mumbled aloud.

“WANT OUT.” Bruce felt the Hulk shift in his mind, nudging at the boundary that was Bruce's skin.

“No.” He whispered. He took another deep breath and attempted to resist the change.  
Bruce was exhausted. Between turning earlier in the day and every other thing that had been thrown his way. It was a struggle to push the Hulk down, but he did it. When he opened his eyes he saw Tony looking at him from across the balcony. He was wearing all the Iron Man suit except for the helmet that he held in his hands.

Tony stared dumbly at Bruce. Bruce stared back, his face eerily empty.

“Your eyes are green.” Tony pointed to his own eyes, the gesture punctuated by the whirl of his suit.

“Now would be a good time to leave.” Bruce's words came out in a monotone.

Tony nodded, his eyes shifted warily, never laying fully on Bruce. He put his helmet on and blasted off into the night.

“TIN MAN AFRAID.”

“Of you. He's afraid of you.” Bruce spoke aloud, worried that if he thought his words to the Hulk the two of them would end up in a mental screaming match.

“YOU.”

Bruce figured that the Hulk probably had a point and he hated him for it.

“You're going away now.” Bruce exerted his will and the Hulk was drowned out in a wave of forced calm. He returned to mediating, resolving to think of Tony later. 

-o-

Later turned out to be far sooner than Bruce was ready for. He had retired to his room shortly after mediating. He laid fully clothed on his back, staring at the ceiling and listening to Thor's deathly loud snores. The possibility of sleep was not something Bruce even pretended to entertain. He kept thinking of Tony's unwillingness to look at him while his eyes were ringed with green. He rolled over onto his side and pulled a pillow over his head. It did nothing to block out the sound of Thor's snoring, but it was cold and felt nice against his skin. “The lab.” He thought. “I should go to the lab.”

-o-  
Bruce knew that DUM-E was completely sentient. It was one of the first things he had learned working alongside Tony. Even so, when the robot had come up to Bruce's lab (and it really was Bruce's lab, Tony had left a post-it note on the door that said so) he had been surprised. DUM-E wasn't allowed to leave Tony's workshop, and it was a small shock to see him disobey Tony's wishes for the sake of companionship. Bruce figured the bot must have been getting lonely. When Bruce looked down from his work and saw DUM-E gently nudging his thigh with his claw the physicist took off his rubber work gloves to pet the bot. DUM-E had keened a soft litany of bleeps and bloops that made Bruce chuckle and smile. Bruce found some oil to grease up DUM-E's gears, they had looked as if they hadn't been attended to in a while, and that seemed to make the bot even happier. Bruce asked JARVIS to put on music, something soft and folk-sounding, and he and DUM-E got to work on the nanobots. They made a good pair; Bruce had an infinite amount of patience for DUM-E's good-natured clumsiness and DUM-E had no problem making Bruce smile at least a little bit. The bot had a propensity for dancing; something Bruce had never seen him do around Tony. He would wheel back and forth, wiggling his arm up and down, being as adorable as a one-armed robot could possibly be. Bruce had forgotten all about Tony and the stress of the down-right insane day he just had. Something about DUM-E's presence was very comforting. He found himself less anxious about the outcome of his work; suppressing the Hulk a hazy, far off thought.

Of course all that changed when Tony walked in.

“Bruce! Have you seen?-Oh! You little bugger! Who told you, you could leave the workshop?” Tony looked at Bruce. “Did you steal my robot?”

Bruce shook his head. “No. I was working and he just showed up. He's been helping.”

“All this one is good for is making explosions.”

DUM-E bleeped in descent.

“Oh shut up, you. I was worried.” Tony said.

“Did you just admit to being worried about something?” Bruce asked.

“I can't believe you stole my robot. I gave you a lab, Brucie. A whole lab.” Tony began to wander around, poking at things Bruce had been working on. “Weren't we suppose to work on this stuff together?”

“I figured you were busy. It's late, you should get some sleep.” Bruce took his goggles and lab coat off and placed them on a counter.

“Sleep is for the weak.” Tony shrugged as he spoke. He was fully absorbed in looking at a glass case of softly glowing nanobots. The way Bruce saw it he was purposefully avoiding eye contact. And then it hit him that after being attacked in his own bedroom it was probably the last place Tony wanted to be, even if he would be damned if he actually said it.

“You can sleep in my bed. I mean, it's technically your bed. Or we could sleep in the lab tonight. It wouldn't be the first time.”

“Did you just invite me into your bed?” That made Tony look at him, all raised eyebrows and cocky smile.

“That's not what I meant.”

“Then tell me what you meant.”

“I'd sleep on the floor.”

“Your bed is pretty big, you know. Both of us could fit on there.”

The pair stared at each other.

“This isn't happening.” Bruce turned away from the eye contact. He began to clean up and shut the lab down.

“Nothing is happening. Not anything that you don't want to happen.”

“Have you lost your mind?”

“Up for debate.”

“Did you not see the Other Guy and me fighting a few hours ago?”

“Was that you fighting? Wow.”

“Tony, you wouldn't even look at me. I could tell you're afraid.”

“Is that what you thought that was?”

Bruce turned away from shelving the few chemicals he had been using, to stare at Tony.

“Are you glaring at me?” Tony asked. He leaned against a lab table and folded his arms. “I didn't know you could glare.”

“What about Steve?”

“What about Steve? It was a one-time thing.”

“Does he know it was a one-time thing? Did you tell him in those words it was?”

“Omygod.” Tony's eyes went wide. “You are jealous.” 

“I'm not sleeping with you Tony.”

“Who said anything about sleeping with me? Just sharing the same bed. It'll be cozy.”

“Go share a of bed with Steve.” Bruce marched out of the lab and into the elevator.

“DUM-E, go back to the workshop. Don't let me catch you out of there again!” Tony said as he ran after Bruce. He caught up with him just in time to share the elevator.

Bruce sighed.

“You are actually jealous. Aren't you taking the green-eyed monster thing too seriously? Why are you even jealous?”

Bruce stood stock still. “I can't exactly sleep with anyone these days. It's hard not to be a little jealous.”

“Have you really not...”

“We're not talking about this.”

The elevator came to stop at the penthouse floor. Bruce made his way to his bedroom with Tony following him.

“Okay, what if you didn't have to deal with the Jolly Green Giant. Would that be an option?”

“What do you mean?” Bruce began to strip the sheets and pillows off of his bed.

“Would it be an option between us?” Tony stood leaning against the open doorway. His gaze never wavered from Bruce, who looked like he was just about ready to turn green and jump out the window. Tony was drinking in the hairy, frumpy mess that was Bruce Banner in an obvious and unashamed fashion. It was making the physicist uncomfortable. Something was building between them, hot and thick, it made it hard for Bruce to breathe.

“I don't know how to respond to that.” Bruce gathered all the sheets and pillows in his arms and began to make his way back to the elevator. Tony followed.

“What are you gonna do with those? Pillow fort? Please say pillow fort.”

“If I make a pillow fort will you sleep in it?”

“If I say yes will you make one?”

Bruce chuckled and just like that the weird tension between them dissipated. Mostly.  
They rode the elevator to Tony's workshop. Bruce began to move around the workshop stools.  
“Could you go back up to your floor and get some of the couch cushions, please?”

“You couldn't tell me that when we were there?”

Bruce shrugged.  
Tony sighed and got back in the elevator.

When Bruce was alone he sighed and slumped in on himself.

“What am I gonna do...” He mumbled to himself. “JARVIS? Does Tony have clothes pins around here?”

“I will have DUM-E fetch them for you, Doctor.”

“Thanks....JARVIS? I've been meaning to ask you, why did you cover for me and Clint earlier? You didn't have too.”

JARVIS took a moment to respond. It was enough time for DUM-E to emerge from the depths of the lab and bring him a Ziploc of clothespins. Bruce was afraid to ask what on earth Tony needed clothespins for in his workshop.

“You are good for Sir. If there is a way to ease tension between the two of you, it is worth doing.”

Bruce felt the air punch out of his lungs. “You really think our friendship is helping him?”

“You feed and water Sir regularly.”

Bruce chuckled. “Don't forget that I regularly place him in direct sunlight.”

“That too.”

“Are you and JARVIS talking about me? I feel like I'm being talked about.” Tony came back into the lab balancing an obnoxious amount of couch cushions.

“If I say yes?...” Bruce was smiling at Tony. It made the engineer's heart thump dangerously against the arc reactor.

“Nothing bad, Sir. I assure you.” JARVIS cut in.

“Mmhm. First DUM-E now JARVIS. If I didn't know better I'd think you were planning a mutiny.” Tony stood to the side as Bruce built the pillow fort made from stools and half the workshop table. He pulled the old ratty couch from the back of the workshop that Tony used as a bed when he was too tired to make it up to his room and used it to hold up part of the sheet-roof.

“If I were planning a mutiny it wouldn't be so obvious.” Bruce finished the fort, crawling out of it and making a gesture that said 'voila, here you go, you man-child'. “Go on. Get inside.”

Tony kicked off his shoes and crawled inside the fort, but not before grabbing Bruce's wrist and dragging him with him.

“Tony!”

“You made it, you should enjoy it. It's cozy in here, well made, you ever think about becoming an engineer?”

“Tony...”

“Seriously, think of the science we could do together if you understood the intricacy of engineering.”

“I'm not sleeping in here.”

“Are you gonna leave me in here alone?” Tony pouted.

“I'm going to my bed.”

“I don't know if you forgot, but your bed has no sheets.”

Bruce slumped down on the bed of couch cushions. “You're going to be the death of me.”

Tony laid down next to Bruce, leaving a respectable distance in an attempt not to crowd him.  
“That's what Rhodey says.” 

“He's probably right.”

“You're all going to give me a complex.”

Bruce took a stray pillow and gently whacked Tony in the face with it. “Go to sleep.”

Tony groaned. “I don't wanna. Let's build a new particle accelerator.”

“It's one in the morning.”

“I don't care. Grab some of my tools and bring them in here. It'll be fun.”

Bruce wiggled his way over to where Tony was already beginning to sit up. He placed his body weight on top of Tony who was forced to lay back down.

“You're sleeping. We have work to do tomorrow and you need to be alert for it.”

“Bruuuuuce.”

“Yes, Tony?”

“Bruuuce, let me go.”

“Sleep.”

“You can't make me.”

“I'm not doing science with you. I'm tired and want to sleep.”

“You can't ignore the siren call of science.” Tony made to get up and Bruce put more of himself on top of him.

“You know, this is kinda gay.”

Bruce looked down at the rest of his body. He was laying chest to chest on top of Tony. He shrugged.  
“It's not gay if it's in a three way. Let's call DUM-E in here.”

Tony choked on air and burst out laughing. “You didn't just say that.” Tears rolled down Tony's face. “You did not just say that.” Bruce rode the waves of Tony's full body laughter. “You did not. You didn't.”

“DUM-E, could you please come over here?”

Tony laughed harder. “No! You wouldn't.”

DUM-E rolled over to the opening of the fort.

“Would it be alright if I put you on your side?” Bruce looked down both his and Tony's bodies to talk to DUM-E.

The bot let out a high-pitched bleep and waved his arm up and down.  
“Alright. I promise to put you up right in the morning. Okay?”

DUM-E whirled and clicked. Bruce got off of Tony, who was laughing to the point of near-hysteria.

He gently, ever so gently lifted DUM-E and pulled him into the tent, placing him next to Tony.

The engineer wiped tears from his eyes and looked over to DUM-E who was clicking and whirling and waving his arm about.

“Hey, there.” Tony reached out and pet his bot.

“We're going to sleep now.” Bruce climbed over to Tony's other side, making sure that all three of them had pillows under their heads.

Tony was too busy catching his breath to respond. JARVIS dimmed the workshop lights, and the three in the tent went to sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beta'd by The_Silent_Writer, all mistakes left are my own

Bruce grumbled. He swiped at his face, smearing drool over his lips and nose. “Where am I?”

“Stark Tower, in Manhattan, Doctor Banner.”

“JARVIS?”

“Yes, Doctor.”

Bruce groaned and opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was Tony looking at him with a hazy smile.

“Mornin' Pumpkin.” Tony said. “Sleep well?”

Bruce groaned again. He had, in fact, slept well, but waking up was never pleasant. “We have work to do. With Doom's portal.” Bruce mumbled. He closed his eyes again, and ignored the way Tony was staring at him.

“Do we have to?” Tony's moved his arm that had somehow found its way around Bruce's hips. Tony pulled his friend closer to him, and snuggled into his side.

“Fate of the world, 'member? Have you seen my glasses?”

“We could shuck this one off on Richards. Doom is his problem, anyway.”

“Richards is a little...loose with the screws up there.”

“Oh, Bruce I knew I wanted to marry you. I didn't know you hated Richards.”

“Hate is a strong word.”

“You hate him!” Tony propped himself up on his elbow to get a better look at Bruce.

“He's glorified putty.”

“You're snarky in the morning.”

Bruce snorted.

“Let's run away to France. You think the Hulk would like France?”

“I think the Hulk would like to destroy France.”

“That's fine, honey muffin, I'll pay for the damages.”

“Are you guys serious?!” Steve's familiar voice roared through the lab. “We were looking for you.”

Bruce groaned again and nuzzled into Tony's messy mop of hair. He breathed in deep, inhaling the smell of sweat and oil that was all Tony.

“Are you sniffing me?” Tony whispered into Bruce's chest.

“You smell like oil, and metal. You're not bleeding, are you?”

“I think that's just the Iron Man helmet you're smelling. The smell tends to stick around.” 

“You need an air freshener in there, pine scented maybe?” 

“Not a car Brucie, not a car.” 

“Guys come out of there!” Steve peeked into the pillow fort. “Why is DUM-E in here?”

“I bet Steve smells like apple pie.” Bruce smiled into Tony's hair.

“Rogers, do you smell like apple pie? Let me sniff you.” Tony made to get up and Bruce strengthened his grip on Tony's waist.

“Um...” Steve knelt at the entrance of the fort, looking dumbstruck.

“Five more minutes before we get up, and then we have work to do.” Bruce said. “Steve, what should I make for breakfast?”

“Can we have pancakes?” Tony asked. “Please, pancakes. Anyone who makes me pancakes gets a blowjob. Five blowjobs.”

Bruce growled. He smacked Tony over the head. “Stop propositioning us for sex.”

“I heard blowjobs. Who's giving them out?” Clint's voice wafted over to them.

“Stark, are you really in a pillow fort?” Natasha's voice came seamlessly after Clint's.

“They've been sleeping in here.” Steve said. He moved over to the side and let Clint kneel to see inside the fort.

“What was that about blowjobs?” Clint asked.

“I'm giving them out to anyone who makes me pancakes.” Tony let his eyes rove over Clint's body, and the other man did much the same.

“I'm getting this man pancakes.” Clint announced.

“You're a dog, Clint.” Natasha said. 

“Woof. Ow. You're nails hurt. Did you know that?”

“Has someone checked on Thor?” Steve asked.

Tony closed his eyes and hid his face in Bruce's chest. “My tower has become a frat house.”

-o-

Much later that day Tony and Bruce were sequestered in the lab while Steve, Clint, and Natasha all went to talk with contacts they believed might help them better understand the situation in Latveria. Thor, after being told there wasn't much he could do until the fighting began, went across the country to visit his girlfriend. Tony and Bruce had been stuck in the lab for hour upon fruitless hour until the time began to bleed together into one painful moment.

“We're gonna have to go to Latveria, aren't we.” Tony groaned.

“Feels counter intuitive, doesn't it?” Bruce asked.

“Everything can go wrong. Even by my standards it's a bad idea. Mhm?” Tony thrust a packet of fruit snacks at Bruce. The physicist took a handful and shoved them artlessly into his mouth. 

“Thanks. I don't think we have much of a choice. All this-” Bruce gestured to where he had Doom's schedule for the next three weeks open on a holoscreen. “-is nice, but it won't help us any.”

Tony mindlessly scrolled through the endless stream of data he had ripped from Doom's servers. “This is all really useless.”

“I don't know about everything. Look at this.” Bruce tapped away on his screen before he turned it toward Tony. The engineer let out and amazed breath.

“Where did you find it?”

“It was hiding in a maze. Encrypted too, but JARVIS took care of it.”

“This is a thing of beauty. Bruce, hold me.”

The pair stared dumbstruck at the schematics for Doom's robots.

“Does he know you have these?” Bruce asked.

“JARVIS?” Tony called out.  
“No, Sir.”

Tony let out another small shocked breath. “We could rule the world. I promise to give you Australia.”

“What?” Bruce chuckled.

“Nothing, let's-JARVIS save this? I have work to do later.”

“Sir, Agent Barton incoming.” JARVIS said.

“Huh, let him in.”

The lab door opened and Clint came strolling in, hands in his pockets.

“Pinky. Brain.” He nodded to both Bruce and Tony.

“Which one is-”

“Have you found anything worthwhile?” Bruce cut Tony off.

“Not really. No one knows anything we don't. Steve and Nat are saying we're probably going to have to go to Latveria after all.”

Tony groaned and wilted.

“Thor said it was apocalypse worthy, so we can't ignore it. Nat is making some calls, we leave tomorrow morning.”

Tony slouched against Bruce.

“I'm guessing we're debriefing at some point?” Bruce asked. He began to mindlessly run his thumb over Tony's wrist where their arms touched.

“Steve said after dinner. Since we're all gonna be there.” Clint shrugged. “They want me back up there, so, see you later. Stark. Banner.”

“Barton.” Tony mumbled into Bruce's shoulder.

The archer left the lab.

“Bruce, I really don't wanna do this.”

The physicist turned to Tony. He looked into Tony's brown, brown, eyes and felt something crack inside of him at the discomfort there. “You don't have too.” Bruce shook his head, it was a shy, minute motion. 

“You don't have to lie.”

“I'm not lying. It would be difficult but if you really don't want to we'll figure something out. Steve will understand.”

“I don't care if Rogers will understand or not.” Tony closed his eyes.

Bruce pushed down the urge to hug Tony. “Just say the word.”

“Word.”

Bruce chuckled. “Really?”

“No. I'm going with you guys. Someone has to make sure Rogers doesn't do something dumb. You look away for two seconds and I swear he's doing something dumb.” Tony hid his face in Bruce's hair.

“That the only reason?”

“No one else is likely to go out in a suicidal blaze of glory. Besides, I don't have to worry about you. You do enough worrying for the both of us.”

“Very funny.” Bruce's heart pulsed off beat at the word 'us'.

It went silent for a few deep, easy breaths.

“I want you at my back. If it comes down to us fighting? I want you right where I can see you.” Tony was talking into Bruce's hair. The physicist always smelled like he had come straight from the lab, soaked in the smell of chemicals and sterile lab equipment.

“Of course. I'll let the Hulk know.” 

-o-

Steve opened his mouth to speak.

“No Rogers, shut up. Food first. Then you can yell at us about attack plans and extraction whatever-the-hell. Barton, pass the slice with the mushrooms.” Tony spat.

The whole group was settled around the kitchen table. They ordered pizza to spare them the trouble of cooking. Ten pizza boxes sat open and scattered on the counters of the penthouse kitchen. Clint passed Tony a slice covered in mushrooms and pepperoni, and received a grunt in thanks.

“I wasn't going to say anything about that.” Steve replied. Bruce watched him fold a slice and finish it all in two bites. The physicist wondered if Steve ever chewed his food.

“Tell us what you were gonna say Steve.” Natasha said. She was delicately licking cheese and grease from her fingers. The act had Clint entranced; he watched her from across the room.

“I have a friend that might be joining us in Latveria.”

“I knew it!” Tony said around a mouthful of melted cheese. “I knew it, he's still talking about work! Someone shut him up!”

“Do we know them?” Bruce asked.

“Don't encourage him.” Tony groaned. “He needs to learn how to put his work down.”

“No, I don't believe so.” But Steve was looking Bruce straight in the eye and they both knew who he was talking about. “But he's a good guy, I swear.”

“I'll take your word for it, Cap.” Bruce said.

“If he's coming with us, shouldn't he be here?” Clint asked. Oblivious as ever, tomato sauce smothered on his cheeks.

“It's not a sure thing. He'll um...show up if he feels like it.”

“Oh, that's just great.” Tony swallowed another mouthful of pizza. “Because this whole op isn't enough of a fuck-basket, you need to throw in a rogue agent. Tell him not to come, I'm not dealing with another unknown.”

Steve paled.

Natasha looked between Stark and Rogers. “Let's see if he even shows up” she said. “Like Steve said, maybe he won't even show.”

“I don't like any of you and I refuse to talk about Avengers business while there's food in my mouth.” Tony turned toward Bruce and immediately began to talk about his progress with the nanobots.

-o-

Ten pizzas later Bruce, Natasha, Clint, and Thor were all either washing, drying, or putting away dishes while Steve and Tony went over the plan for the third, and hopefully final time.

“So we fly in and land-”

“20 miles away-”

“20 miles too far if the shit hits the fan-”

“We are not changing our drop point-”

“Whatever, Cap.”

“You and Bruce will be stationed a few yards away from the portal in a van with your equipment to get readings on the portal with Thor standing guard; while Black Widow, Hawkeye and I will infiltrate-”

“You are NOT wearing red white and blue inside their base.”

“I'm done arguing about this.”

“One or both of them needs to get laid.” Clint looked over his shoulder at where Tony and Steve were still sitting and the table, glaring at each other as they fought.

Bruce looked at Clint, eyebrows raised. He handed the archer another wet plate.

“Be careful with your eyebrows, Doc. They might fly right off your face.” Clint said.

Bruce rolled his eyes. Natasha caught him doing it and shook her head good naturedly in exasperation. 

“Perhaps a group bout if sparing is in order. It will help the two of them let off stress.” Thor said.

“I think you have the right idea, Thor.” Natasha said.

“We leave at seven tomorrow.” Steve said. He pulled himself out of his chair and threw on his leather jacket.

“In the morning-?”

“No buts. I'll see you bright and early.”

“Where are you going, Rogers?! Are you really going to go all the way home just to come all the way back here?”

“I have to take care of some things back home. Get rest everyone.” Steve turned, and left.

The group at the sink quietly finished their tasks and one by one said goodnight and went to bed until only Bruce and Tony were left. Bruce was wiping down a counter when Tony stood up from the table to stretch.

“Are you coming to bed?” Tony asked.

“In a moment. I just wanna finish up here.”

“You don't have to do that, you know. Cleaning crew, remember?” Tony sat back down and glanced up from studying the blueprints of the Doombots to look at Bruce's back. Tony decided Bruce had a nice back.

Bruce dropped the towel and wiped his hands on his shirt. He shrugged. “Are you going to bed right away?”

“Yeah, I think I'll just take this to bed with me.” Tony waited for Bruce to finish in the kitchen. The pair went side by side to the workshop and climbed into the pillow fort fully clothed.

-o-

It took them a moment to get comfortable until finally Tony had wedged himself into Bruce's arms, ignoring all of the physicist’s halfhearted pleas for more personal space. They cuddled with Bruce's arm slung over Tony's waist, Bruce's face nuzzled into Tony's hair.

“I think I could spend all day like this.” Tony said. He was still working on his tablet. The soft glow of electric blue illuminated the fort.

“Like what?” Bruce asked.

“Like this. Here. Working, but resting.”

“Tony Stark has discovered rest.” Bruce smiled a small smile.

“Shut up, Banner. You're just as bad. It's just that no one sees it.”

Bruce chuckled dryly. “I'm not the one who built their whole career by working to the point of exhaustion.”

“I don't believe that. I bet you did. All mad scientist like.” 

“I am not a mad scientist.”

“Are you pouting?” Tony wiggled around until he faced Bruce. “You're really pouting.”

“I'm not pouting.”

“It's alright. Pouty mad scientists are sexy. There in. You're in right now.”

Bruce's pout only grew. “Tony...”

“Yeah. Yeah.” He threw a leg over both of Bruce's waist. Their hips fit snugly against each other.

“Tony...” Bruce wiggled his hips away from where they were pressed flush against Tony's.

“You're personal space is dead. I killed it. I could buy it from you, if that makes you feel better.”

Bruce sighed. “You can't buy my personal space.”

“Of course I can. Name your price. I wanna own your personal space.”

Bruce groaned and closed his eyes. “This isn't happening.”

“If you don't name a price I'll just take it.” Tony nudged closer to Bruce. “I'm taking it. It's being taken. Better do something about it Brucie.”

“There's something wrong with you.”

Tony was chest to chest with Bruce. “I believe I've just conquered Brucelandia. Last chance to surrender with terms.”

Bruce chuckled. “You don't have to pay me for this Tony. It doesn't work like that. You can just ask.”

“No terms?”

Bruce wondered how many times in his life Tony had paid in, some form, for physical contact. It hurt to think it might have possibly been his whole life.

“My space isn't for sale. I give it out for free.” 

“Selling yourself short. Could have had anything you wanted.”

Bruce sighed into Tony's hair. At the back of Bruce's mind he realized he might have a crush on Tony Stark. It was a passing thought and he paid no attention to it.

Bruce reached over his friend's body to tap at Tony's tablet and save his work. He pushed it away from them. “It's time to go to sleep. I'll leave this next to you, if you wake up in the middle of the night.”

Bruce wondered if he should extract himself from Tony. He figured if Tony wasn't pulling away he wouldn't either. It dawned on him that straight men tend not to cuddle so intimately with their friends and he wondered...

“Bruce?”

“We're sleeping now.”

Tony's facial features scrunched up as if he was going to argue.

“Sleep.”

Tony opened his mouth to speak, but then thought better of it. He rested his head on top of Bruce's chest, and closed his eyes.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta'd by The_Silent_Writer, all mistakes are solely my own

The thing with Hydra is that they don't have a singular, unified chain of command. Not really. There are regional commanders who oversee operations in their respective countries, there are politicians loyal to Hydra but carry on with their own agendas, there was Zola's brain in a metal box, a fluid collection of zeros and ones. So no one really noticed, not even themselves, when Hydra had taken over Latveria. Doom was a quiet leader. He was flashy, sure, but he was known to leave his country for vast swaths of time. And this happened to be one of those times. The only difference being that this time Hydra had been certain of his absence, and had taken the country for themselves. Everything else was laughably simple. It wasn't as if hacking and controlling Doombots was hard work.  
All the same, it was a shock to Tony, Bruce, and the rest of the Avengers to see the large, obnoxious flag of Hydra waving in the Latverian wind. Everything had been going beautifully according to plan, up until then.

“Does this change anything?” Clint had asked, staring down the flag, very much annoyed.

“No, of course not.” Steve replied. “You, Widow, and I are still going into their HQ. Bruce, Tony and Thor are going in the van. Tony, is the van ready?”

“Does Thor love his hammer?”

Steve sighed and gestured for Tony, Bruce, and Thor to get in their van while he covered them.

-o-  
“Friend-Stark, are you sure that this will work?” Thor asked. The God had stood silently and had watched as his two comrades muttered numbers to one another, writing things down in a crazed way he was quickly becoming familiar with. 

The group of them sat in the dusty, beat-up van surrounded by equally weather-worn vans, a few tanks, and quite a few Latverian soldiers who were probably all actually Hydra agents, or at least had no problem with Hydra occupying their country. They were parked with the front of the van facing away from the portal. The huge monstrosity glowed ethereal and fierce, turning everything it touched a fluorescent hazy orange. Thor sat on one of the long benches in the back of the van, watching his two companions work. 

“Of course. It should, anyway. Won't know until we try, right Brucie?” Tony said, fiddling simultaneously with his computer and scraps of paper.

“Huh?” Bruce looked up from where he was hunched over a set of hastily drawn equations, staring at them intently and mumbling to himself. “Oh, yeah, I guess. We should really run the numbers again, there's something off about this.”

“We ran them already, a bagillion times. We're not gonna be any more ready.”

Bruce sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“I believe it is time.” Thor said, and neither of the two scientists put up much of an argument.

“I'm pressing the button then.” Tony said. “Any last words? No? Let's do this.”

-o-

“Ow!” Clint, Steve, and Natasha all collectively flinched as their communicators fried in their ears.

“God!” Natasha ripped her com-piece out of her ear and stomped on it for good measure. Clint followed suit, and Steve would have too if he hadn't been currently wedged tight and deep in the bowels of an air vent.

Natasha had mentioned how the easiest way to the computer they were looking for, the one that was most likely to hold useful information on the portal, was through the air vents. Steve had not only insisted that it was essential that he go through the air vent first because of “unknown risks” but that he would fit “no problem”. Of course Clint had muttered something about big dogs who think they're small dogs and Natasha had warned him that his shoulders were way too big, but by that point he was already neck deep in, and really Steve figured once his head was in there, there was no turning back. And then he got stuck.

“What on earth was that?” Steve asked, very much upset he couldn't reach his ears to take out the burning, buzzing object.

“I don't know, but there goes our extraction. We have to relay on time now. We should hurry.” Natasha shifted her weight, every muscle broadcasting unease. 

“What?” Clint asked.

“Oh, no. Don't tell me.” Natasha circled around into Clint's field of vision and began signing to him rather angrily.

“What's happening?” Steve asked.

Natasha waited for confirmation from Clint before saying “Clint's hearing aids were fried by whatever got our coms.”

“We should begin extraction, it's not safe for him without his ears.”

Natasha translated Steve's words for Clint, who rolled his eyes and asked Natasha to remind Steve that he was a goddamn S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, and being deaf had never slowed him down, not to mention Steve was the king of all hypocrites if he actually believed what he just said.

“Fair enough. The two of you go on ahead. I'll catch up with you when I get unstuck.”

“We're not leaving him here alone, are we?” Clint poked at the Captain's legs dangling out of the air vent.

“Yes, we are.” Natasha pushed her hair out of her face so Clint could read her lips. “I'm not leaving you alone in the field without your ears to watch over this hot mess.”

“I'm not a hot mess.” Steve called out from the air vent.

“You are the definition of a hot mess.”

Steve huffed.

“We'll meet up with you later, Cap.” Natasha and Clint left Steve dangling in the air vent without a second thought.

-o-

“That didn't work. It did the opposite of work. I told you the numbers weren't right, Brucie. Should have listened.”

Bruce rolled his eyes and threw himself back into his equations.

“How are we to know when our comrades are ready to be brought back to the quinjet?” Thor asked.

“We'll figure it out. Hey, look at this.” Tony shoved a piece of paper covered in barely legible scribbles into Bruce's face.

The physicist sighed and took it. “Your math is off. No wonder we got it wrong.”

“Whose job was it to check my work? Got no one to blame but yourself.”

“ _My_ math was fine. I gave it to you and you somehow make numbers into explosions.”

“That is a _gift_. Meant to be _treasured_. Do we have it yet? Can I set up a new wave frequency?”

“Yeah, try not to explode anything this time.”

-o-

“Well this is new.” A familiar, gravelly voice took Steve by surprise. He jumped and it looked ridiculous with his legs jerking suddenly in mid-air.

“Bucky?”

“What if it wasn't me? What would you have done?”

“Buck, I thought I told you to stay-”

“Shut up, Rogers.”

A pair of gloved hands took hold of Steve's legs and gave one rough yank that sent the Captain flying.

“I think you dislocated something.” Steve groaned.

“It's better than being shot in your big star-spangled ass.”

“Can it, Barnes.”

-o-

“This is it. I feel it.” Tony tapped his pen on his computer screen. The metal bench at the back of the van was doing nothing for his back. He sat comically hunched over his computer; excited to get the mission over with and sit in a real chair. 

“Please make sure it is actually 'it'. I would not like to see what would happen if you fail.” Thor said.

“You and me both buddy. Are you ready for part two?”  
-o-

Clint and Natasha had made quick work of retrieving the information they needed. It had been a quick, dirty fight in the main office. Half the files had been on a computer while the other half were hard copies, but despite the extra hassle it had been no trouble.

The pair met up with Steve and his shadow halfway back the way they had come.

“Steve...” Natasha sighed.

“He just showed up here, I swear.”

“Keep an eye on your stray. We don't have time for this.”

“Do something with your team mates, Stevie. I'm not anyone's pet.” Bucky folded his arms, unamused.

“Oh really? You followed him out here like one.”

“Natalia...”

“Yasha.”

“Can we go? I have a feeling the third world war is happening outside.” Clint said, not knowing what exactly the conversation was about, but annoyed with it none the less.

Steve rolled his shoulders and tried to ignore exactly how annoyed his teammates were. “Let's mosey.”

Bucky snorted. “Did you just say mosey?”

-o-

“Does anyone else feel like this is too easy?” Tony asked. The trio watched through the rear view window as the portal began to slowly close one agonizing inch per minute.

“We should rejoice, and hope all future victories are this easy.” Thor said.

“We still have to find Steve and the others. We shouldn't celebrate just yet.” Bruce said.

“Aren't you just the professional party pooper. Poop on our party, poop on your own party, just pooping everywhere.” Tony said.

“Ya' know, if anyone else told me that I think I would be offended.” Bruce said to the rear view mirror.  
The ground shook violently, and the van lurched heavily to one side for a moment. A flash of green light flooded out of the portal, mixing with its natural orange to create a sickly color that forced the trio to shield their eyes.

“This can't be good.” Tony flipped out his suitcase armor, parts of his suit already climbing up his ankles.

“No, it is not.” Thor moved himself in front of Tony and gently pushed Bruce behind him as something very large rumbled its way into view.

“What is that?” Bruce took off his glasses and squinted into the light.

“It's coming toward us.” Thor said, and anything that made Thor sound scared made Tony worry, but before he could ask why Thor sounded so worried something huge slammed into the van and it went flying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Tumblr](http://sir-rainbow-sprinkles.tumblr.com/)


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta'd by the absolutely fabulous The_Silent_Writer, all mistakes are my own

The van rocketed a hundred yards away. It crunched in on itself like it was nothing but paper; becoming a useless piece of scrap metal the moment it hit the ground. 

“Weren't Bruce and Tony in there?” Clint asked. He, Natasha, Steve and Bucky had made quick work of leaving the building serving as Hydra's headquarters; the thumb-drive carrying what were supposedly a portion of Hydra's plans for Latveria kept carefully on Natasha's person. The group arrived outside just in time to be blinded by the strange green and orange light bleeding out of the portal, and see a huge green and black something charge out of the portal and slam into the van. 

“And Thor.” Natasha added, signing her words as she spoke. 

The Latervian-Hydra personnel around the portal scrambled around it as it rumbled. The sounds of shouted orders and screams of panic echoed alongside its booming thrum. The thing that had come out of the portal captured the agents attention until something bright and red flew up into the sky. A split second later an ear-shattering roar was added to the cacophony of noise and the Hulk tore his way out of Bruce. 

“This is going to be a mess,” Natasha sighed, “but at least they're okay.” 

Steve straightened himself out to his full height and attached his shield to his arm.   
“We have to get to them. Widow, take Hawkeye. The Solider and I are taking point. Watch the back and clear away the strays, we're getting the rest of our team and we're hightailing it back to the quinjet.” 

A chorus of 'understoods' echoed behind him as Steve and Bucky jumped into the mess in front of them. The Hydra agents didn't seem to notice Steve or the rest of his team move through the chaos until it was already too late for them. The two pairs cut a path past the surprisingly, and hilariously inexperienced agents in no time at all. The sound of fists pounding against flesh echoed in all their ears, and thick smell of blood clotted in their noses. Off in the distance something was causing a disturbance huge enough to distract the mass of Hydra agents; it was drawing them in like cows to a barn. 

“It took you all long enough to get here. What were you doing? Skipping through the halls of evil?” The filtered robotic voice of Iron Man echoed over the chaotic free-for-all. He landed next to Natasha who was busy choking a Hydra agent well into unconsciousness. “I was wondering when you guys would join the party.”

“Your definition of party never ceases to baffle me.” Natasha said. 

“You and Bruce need to learn how to have fun. We closed the portal, but something came out of it.” 

“We haven't noticed.” 

“I'm not appreciating your humor. Who's this guy?” Tony pointed a shiny red finger at Bucky who was busy punching in a Hydra agent's rib cage while simultaneously snapping another's neck with his thighs. “And why does he get to kill people. Cap' doesn't let us kill people. Wait a second. Is this the Winter Solider? Is the Winter Solider really here right now?! Really?”

“Bucky!” Steve chastised while flinging his shield and hitting not one, but four Hydra goons. 

“'Not sorry.” Bucky replied, snapping another man's neck to prove his point.

“Someone help me get the Hulk to follow us to the quinjet.” Tony said. 

“You guys.” Clint yelled. “Look at Bruce.” 

Everyone turned as much of their attention as possible over to the Hulk who was wrestling with the creature that had come out of the portal. The two huge masses were grappling with one another, grabbing and pushing until one of them threw the other well across the field and into a collection of screaming Hydra agents. The other-worldly force was ten foot tall and packed with nothing but muscle. It had patches of tar-black spots etched with milky white stripes embedded into its rough leather skin. 

“We have to go help him– ” Tony said. 

“Wait a minute, – ” Natasha gasped. 

“Does anyone else notice a resemblance between the two of them?” Steve asked. 

“You have to be kidding me!” Clint screamed. 

Tony couldn't believe it. He paid closer attention to JARVIS sensor readings. The amount of gamma radiation between the Hulk and the creature from the portal was a nearly perfect match. The Hulk from the portal however looked twice as powerful, and somehow angrier. It's green veins bulged against it's neck and arms. The patches of infection that had burrowed its way into his skin looked as if it was only adding to the creature's irritation. Which was worrying since the Hulk was quite literally bullet proof. 

“This is ridiculous. I'm done. Is anyone else done?” Tony said. 

“You should be happy.” Natasha said. “This means there's now more than one Bruce.” 

For a split second Tony imagined himself nuzzled between two Bruces, impossibly warm from their unnaturally high body temperatures. He felt himself actually turn red from the thought of it and blessed the fact that his face was covered. 

“What's that supposed to mean, Romanoff?” 

“Nothing.” 

“Focus.” Steve called out. “Where's Thor?” 

“He was protecting Bruce when we got hit. He should be shaking himself off about thirteen meters in that direction.” Tony said. 

“He's the only one who stands a chance against the two of them. Iron Man, take Hawkeye and fly over the area. Find Thor and tell him there are two Hulks if he doesn't know.” 

“I'd be faster if I go alone.”

“I'd be more efficient if there's two of you.” 

“How are we supposed to communicate? I'm wearing a helmet and it's not like I can sign with metal fingers.”

“You can sign?” Natasha asked. 

Tony rolled his eyes behind his helmet. “I can do everything.” 

“Focus!” Steve called out again. 

Bucky cocked his head. “It's like wrangling puppies.” 

Steve let out a long suffering sigh. “You have no idea.” 

“Friends! I am glad to have found you! A Hulk from another realm seems to have traveled through the portal. How would you suggest we fight it, Captain?” Thor's loud, booming voice cut through the budding argument. “We must act quickly, for I fear what will happen when Hydra regroups their forces.” Thor appeared from nowhere, which was impressive seeing as he was huge and wearing a bright red cape.

Steve sighed and focused his frustration on punching an oncoming Hydra agent. 

-o-

Bruce wasn't fully aware of what the Hulk did when he was in control. He only received vague impressions of what was happening. The swing of an arm too heavy to be his own, or the feeling of human bones crunching under the weight of green, meaty thumbs. He knew the fight had leveled well over a dozen trees, and enough Hydra agents to leave a flesh speckled, blood caked mess on the backsides of both Hulks. Even from deep inside his own mind Bruce rolled with disgust. 

He felt the Hulk's arms grapple with his alter-dimensional twin, knock him off balance, and throw him across the clearing into another patch of trees. In the background the portal finished closing with a loud pop. The other Hulk gathers his limbs together and roared. He set himself up to charge; growling and snarling. Off in the distance the source of the disturbance among the Hydra grunts made itself known. A woman whose entire skull was an angry red and covered in scars walked through the chaos of the battlefield; Hydra agents falling quiet in her presence. 

“That will be all, gentleman.” She called across the clearing. The woman calmly walked toward the Hulks, her spine ramrod straight, her arms kept firmly at her sides. Everything about her oozed overconfidence. She stopped to look at the two Hulks that had stopped fighting to stare at the woman who did not seem the least bit afraid of them. 

“Look what escaped from the portal.” She un-holstered a gun by her hip, flipped off the safety and shot at the black-striped Hulk in one swift motion. He cried out in pain, staggered with it, and fell over. He quickly morphed in to a fleshy pink mound on the crushed grass. 

“Thank you Tony Stark!” The woman called out to where the rest of the Avengers stood watching several yards away. “We would have never figured out how to close this portal without you.” She said as she sauntered over to the rest of the group. “We didn't even have to bother kidnapping you a second time, you came all by yourself!” 

Tony ignored the woman, his attention torn to where the extra-terrestrial Hulk had melted into another Bruce. He nodded to the Captain before flying himself over to where the alter-dimensional Bruce lay on the ground. He gathered him into his arms. Shock rolled through Tony's body as he looked down. Scrapes and bruises that would have normally healed after transforming into the Hulk were still left on his body. Nausea traveled up and down Tony's stomach, he felt as if he were going to vomit. 

“What did you do to him?!” He yelled across the field. 

“I cured him, of course.” The woman smiled something evil. 

The alter-dimensional Bruce moaned and twisted in Tony's arms. “Tony? I thought you were ̶ I thought ̶ Oh Tony...” Bruce's hands were trembling. He squirmed his way onto his back and moved his fingers over Tony's helmet. He traced the lines of the Iron Man face plate with reverence, tears dripping down his cheeks. Tony popped his helmet up, revealing his face. 

“Tony. . . Oh God.” Bruce began to cry in earnest. Off in the distance the strange woman with the red face was entering into what was quickly becoming an all-out screaming match with Steve. Tony attempted to will himself to pay attention to what they were arguing about but he couldn't find it in him to care. The way that Bruce was looking as if he were a ghost, and that was far more urgent then the crazed Hydra lackey decked out like the Red Skull. 

“Tony,” Bruce gasped through his tears. “Tony, Oh God, Tony.” He grabbed hold of Tony's neck and pulled him in for a kiss. He gasped against Bruce's lips before reciprocating. It felt strange, knowing that to this Bruce he was more than just a lab partner. He was someone who warranted body-shaking tears and an equally body-shaking kiss. This wasn't how Tony imagined he would kiss Bruce, but he certainly wasn't going to turn down the only opportunity he would ever have, especially given how distraught Bruce seemed. The kiss was warm, and wet with Bruce's tears. It was a desperate kiss, and ripped at the thin places in Tony's heart. He held Bruce close. 

What happened next happened so quickly Tony would have to remind himself no one, not single person, would have seen it coming. A gun went off, and then another in such quick succession it was nearly impossible to tell which one fired first. One moment Tony was looking into the eyes of a Bruce from another dimension, the taste of him still on his lips, and the very next moment that Bruce was dead. Blood oozed onto Tony's gauntlets, the smell of iron thick in his nose. Someone let out a shriek, and several more guns went off. Tony stared down at Bruce's glassy eyes, how he was quickly becoming covered in his own blood. Off to the side the Hulk roared. 

He charged at the woman who was clutching a two bullet wounds. She cackled and disappeared into the air only to reappear several yards behind the Hulk. 

“Really?” She said. “I am the natural heir of Hydra. Leading the world is my birthright! Go ahead and try to fight me. You will lose.” 

Steve, Natasha, and Bucky all threw themselves at the woman with the red skull. She fended them off with disturbing ease considering her injuries. The agents around her sprang into action, making the battle a messy one. Clint and Thor picked off the stranglers, clearing space for Steve, Natasha, and Bucky to fight their new foe. 

“Sir.” J.A.R.V.I.S said into Tony's ear. “Your teammates need your help.” 

Tony knelt froze in the flattened ground, his arms shaking inside of his armor. With an enormous amount of care he closed Bruce's eyes and placed him on the ground. He briefly realized this Bruce would never get a funeral. He was far from home, and even then there was probably no one left to mourn for him. Tony shook with emotion. He took a few steps away from the body before vomiting. 

“Sir.” J.A.R.V.I.S repeated. “Are you alright?” 

“Just fine.” His voice was rough. He spat out the aftertaste of bile from his throat before snapping his helmet back on and flying into the fight. 

The battle was a mess of blood and limbs. The arrival of the woman seemed to snap something inside of Steve and Natasha; the well-established rule against killing seemed to have been thrown out the window, and everyone followed their lead. After a small eternity the field was slick with blood and only the red-skulled woman was left. The battle came to a standstill, the roughened Avengers assembled around their final enemy. 

The woman looked around at the carnage and gore. “Such a mess. . .I will deal with you all later,” she chuckled and disappeared into the air. 

-o-

“Can we talk about what the fuck just happened?” Clint said. He threw a water bottle at Tony who caught it completely on reflex. He twisted the cap off and drank half the bottle. He hadn't realized how thirsty he was until he was nearly chocking trying to get it all down. The group of them were sitting around Tony's abnormally large kitchen counter finishing the last of the pizza. It was their second meal after the battle, just one having not been enough. 

“I'd like to talk about the fact that the Winter Solider is in my kitchen.” Tony said. 

“I'm not sure that is the most important thing we should be thinking about right now.” Steve said. 

“Says the compromised solider.” 

“I'm serious.” Steve looked as if he was going to be ill. “That woman was – she's the Red Skull's daughter.”

“Was she really?” Tony asked. “I find it hard to believe anyone would willing procreate with Schmidt.” As he talked Tony stared down Bucky as if he was certain the man would spring up from his seat and begin using his metal arm as a club. “I wasn't much paying attention.”

“I noticed.” Natasha said. She was looking at Bucky the same way that Tony was, as if she was certain he would get up at any moment and attack. “Steve, we have enough to deal with right now. Can you maybe take Bucky somewhere else?” 

“No. He stays here.” 

“Friend-Steve,” Thor said. “This man clearly impairs your judgment. Perhaps Lady-Natasha is right. Bring your friend home and return.” 

“He doesn't –“

“I do.” Bucky said. “You know I do. But I know more about Sinthea than any of you.” He looked up at Tony, meeting his eyes. “Let me stay. Let me tell you about her. I have. . .a personal stake in her death, let's say. I want her gone.”

“We don't kill.” Steve said. He folded his arms. 

“Do you really? Because that field was a graveyard.” Bucky said. 

“What can you tell us about this woman?” Thor said. 

Bucky stared angrily at the table before beginning. 

“She was the Red Skull's daughter. Only living relative left. Zola –“ Bucky looked as if he was on the cusp of being sick. He took a deep breath and continued. “Zola did something to her. Made her into another one of his experiments.”

“That explains her face. Like father, like daughter.” Tony said. 

“She can do things people shouldn't be able to do. Telepathy, teleportation.” 

“She's manipulative.” Natasha cut in. “Abnormally so.” 

“She's human enough that if you put a bullet through her head you can kill her. The problem is getting close enough to do it without alerting her.” Bucky said. 

“I'm getting the feeling you've tried this?” Clint asked. 

Bucky shrugged. “She needs to die.” 

“We should be focusing on capture. Not killing.” Steve said. 

Bucky turned to look Steve in the eye. “I want her dead.” 

The pair began to have a whole conversation consisting of only meaningful stares. 

“Bruce, what do you think?” Clint asked. Bruce was sitting hunched in on himself on the farthest corner of the counter. 

The physicist looked up from where he was staring blankly at the wall in front of him “I don't know. Do you really think there's any prison on this earth that could contain someone with her capabilities?”

“Are you saying when the time comes we should kill her?” Natasha asked. She folded her arms and shifted her weight. 

“I'm saying we need to think of our options. She was able to cure the Hulk. How did she get that sort of tech? She might be stealing from other dimensions, God only knows what else she stole.” 

“She clearly has powers we might not be equip to deal with.” Natasha said. 

“She's been able to beat us in every other reality.” Bruce continued. He took off his glasses and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. “It's probably because she keeps stealing technology from other Earths where the Hulk was able to be killed. Maybe she has something that could take out Tony's suit. Maybe Bucky's arm. If we're going to try and take her in – “

“ – We need to anticipate what she's going to do.” Tony cut in. “There's no way we can possibly prepare for a million unknowns. Not to mention if everything follows the same course of action in every universe – ”

“She'll have to open another portal, at some point.” Bruce sighed. 

“She must have wanted to learn how to close them so she could open and close them at will. . .If we run some sort of simulator, maybe. Every possible option.”

“Even then there's too many factors. Place, time of day – “

“Do we know where Doom went?” Clint asked. “Doesn't it seem weird that we haven't heard or seen him anywhere?”

“I'll ask Richards if he knows anything.” Tony said.

Bruce snorted. 

“Give me the thumb-drive.” Tony said. “I'll look it over for clues. Until then, everyone on high alert, code red, or whatever. No one in or out of the tower while there are manic Hydra spawn running around.” 

Natasha began to hand over the thumb-drive. She was intercepted by Bruce who stood up from his seat and took the device from her. He placed it on the counter next to a grateful looking Tony. 

“We should talk.” Bruce said as quietly as he could. Tony went pale and fidgety. 

“Yeah. Sure. Later. Let's get this done first.” 

“Soon, Tony.”

“Uh-huh. Clint, come keep me company while I dive into the briny depths of Doom's secret stash of secrets. Or Hydra's. Who knows what's on this thing. Spangles, Robo-cop and Natasha all look like they need to have a 'people who have personally been wronged by Hydra' conference.” 

“Sure.” Clint looked at Natasha who gave him a small, indecipherable nod. “Let's go. Do you wanna come with, Thor?” 

“I would love to.” Thor replied. The three of them left the kitchen for Tony's workshop.   
Bruce excused himself from those who were left to mediate. The emotional pain of the mission was beginning to feel as if it was tearing a hole in his heart. His skin felt paper thin, like the Hulk could burst his way out at any moment.   
-o-

“Tony and I were a couple. In another dimension.” Bruce thought. He thought about his other self shamelessly kissing Tony, desperately clinging to him. Bruce couldn't see himself hanging off of Tony like that in any stretch of his imagination. He couldn't, and didn't want to think of a scenario that ended in the scene he saw. He couldn't really fathom how a relationship with Tony would work. His heart skipped at the thought of it, but that didn't make it possible. 

“I LIKE TIN MAN.” The Hulk roared deep inside Bruce's mind. 

“I know.” Bruce said. “I do too.” 

“PUNY BRUCE LOVE TIN MAN.”

“I wouldn't go that far.” 

“PUNY BRUCE A FOOL.”

Bruce huffed and took a deep breath. The background of New York was a comforting soundtrack to lull him back into meditation. 

“I'm not going to fight with you.” Bruce mumbled. 

“YOU LIKE TIN MAN.”

Bruce was sitting on the dangerous edge between frustration and actual anger. 

“Yes.”

“TELL HIM.”

“That doesn't solve anything. He – we still. . . can't. We can't have a normal relationship. You made sure of that.” 

“TONY HELP FIND PEACE.”

Bruce hummed softly to himself. He never thought the Hulk would want peace. It didn't seem his style. 

“Are you telling me you're actually tired of fighting for control?” Bruce waited patiently for a response, but never received one. The Hulk wandered away somewhere deeper in to their mind. Bruce opened his eyes and growled. 

“Fine. I'll think about telling him.” He mumbled to himself. The Hulk roared his happiness.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta'd by the absolutely fabulous The_Silent_Writer, all mistakes are my own. 
> 
> This chapter has NSFW content in it, if that's not your jams stop reading at "Alright, I think I understand" and pick it back up again at "Well that went well", or when you see **|~** and **~|**

“Holy shit!” Tony jumped up and held at his chest where the arc reactor sat. “You need to warn people when you sneak up on them! Don’t make me give you a cowbell.”

Bruce rolled his eyes and pushed a glass of soda and a sandwich in Tony’s face. “Eat.” 

“Is that swiss?” 

“Depends, is that the Hydra data I asked you to take a break from?”

It was three days after the debacle in Latveria and Tony was still locked in his lab, pouring over every bit of information and categorizing it all to make it easier to digest. It was gruesome and unpleasant, and Tony hadn’t taken a break from it in roughly 24 hours. 

“So what if it is? I took a nap. That counts. Weren’t you supposed to join me?” Tony took the sandwich and soda out of Bruce’s hands, letting him know how betrayed he felt by pouting as pathetically as possible. 

“I was going to, remember? And then I told you I wasn’t working without talking about—“

“No—“ Tony said through a mouthful of ham. “No, no, no—“

“—what happened in Latveria. Don’t talk with your mouthful.” 

“You’re not my mother.”

“Yeah, the other me seemed to make that very clear.” 

Tony blinked slowly, before finishing off his sandwich in a few huge bites. He gulped down half of his glass of soda before letting out a sigh. 

“Fine. Let’s get this over with.” 

"What happened, exactly?” 

Tony stayed silent for a moment, visibly fighting with himself. He picked up a screwdriver lying around his workstation, and fumbled around with it as he spoke. “After Red Skull 2.0 shot the other hulk and he changed back I went to go see him and. . . ,” Tony felt a lump rise in his throat and he took a moment to swallow it back down. “And he turned back . . . he – he thought I was dead. He thought I was someone else, the Tony Stark from his own Earth. He was happy to see me. He uh – kissed me. As you well know. And then Sinthea shot him, and he died in my arms.” Tony cleared his throat. “Are we done here?” The engineer looked over at Bruce in time to see him wrap his arms around himself in the perfect picture of misery. 

“I’d like to give you a hug, if you’d let me.” Bruce said. Tony immediately brought Bruce into a crushing, suffocating hug, because Bruce offering up physical affection was a rarity that he would never pass up. He soaked in the warmth of his friend, the rise and fall of his chest, the scent of incense and herbal tea that always floated around him. He breathed it all in and melted into his friend, who took the extra weight in stride. His Bruce was in his arms, alive and feeding him sandwiches even when he was being an immature brat. He considered confessing his feelings but instead said “So does this mean you’re gonna come sleep with me in the fort again? I feel silly sleeping in it alone.” 

Bruce let out a sigh. After the incident he had gone back to sleeping in his own room. Sleeping with one another would have been unbearably awkward without talking about what had happened. He gave his lab partner one hard squeeze before letting him go. “Sure. It was getting kind of lonely.” 

“It must have been nice, sleeping without the extra body heat. Seeing as you’re a human furnace.” Tony said. 

“I will admit it was nice not to wake up in someone else’s drool.” 

“Awww, don’t complain. Here, I have a present for you.” He flicked a holo screen toward Bruce, who caught it with practiced ease. “Spoiler alert, it’s not really a present.”

“What’s this?” Bruce dug his reading glasses out of the dip in his open shirt and shoved them onto his face. 

“Don’t you think its weird Doom doesn’t seem concerned with Hydra rolling up to his front door and taking root there?”

“Yeah. But his morals are kind of . . .loose. Who knows what deals he’s made with them.”

“Sure, his morals could use some straightening out, but look.” Tony molded himself to Bruce’s back and pointed to a paragraph at the very bottom of the screen. “There. See it?”

“But. . .” Bruce growled and rubbed at a headache growing near his temples. “Are you telling me—”

“They sent him into space? Yep.” 

“The power vacuum alone is going to – no one knows about this. If they did it would be on every news station, every newspaper.”

“Which is why no one is going to know. Romanoff and Barton have been making sure it’s all being kept quiet. Easy enough, considering he was quite the hermit.” 

“You think he’s dead?”

“I think if anything could kill him it’s being hurled into space. Maybe this time it’ll do the trick, who knows. But we can’t count on him coming back.”

“If we don’t do something the whole country will be owned by Hydra in—“

“It already is. No one knows it yet.” 

“I don’t understand!” Bruce pushed the screen away and began to pace around the worktable. 

“Of course you understand, Brucie. You’re smarter than that.” 

“Hydra owns a whole country and they’re what? Biding their time until, what? What happened to all of Doom’s robots?”

“Apparently we’re not the only ones who have found the flaw in their programing. According to these files.”

“So if Sinthea doesn’t unleash the horrors of who knows what on us we still have to deal with Hydra owning their own state. Great.” Bruce sat himself on a stool and hunched over. “How is Steve taking this?” 

Tony cocked an eyebrow and hummed. “Ya’ know? I wouldn’t know. Haven’t talked recently.”

“You should.”

“No, no, no he has Robocop for that now.” Tony pushed away the few holoscreens around him and turned to work on something that looked like a steel box. 

“Are you jealous?” Bruce smiled as he watched Tony take apart the complicated looking contraption. 

“No! Why would I be? Don’t be ridiculous.”

“The way I see it, it’s complicated. Steve, and Howard, and Bucky too I guess. You all have a lot of history.”

Tony shrugged and the pair worked silently for a moment. “We talked,” the engineer said. “Steve and I. About uh, his friend.”

“Oh yeah?”

“He offered to take C3-P0 somewhere else. I told him to stay.” 

“That was nice of you.” Tony shrugged, and pulled apart something that looked like a miniature motor attached to a fan. 

“It was.” Bruce repeated. 

“I figured us freaks need to stick together. James apologized, anyway. It’s not like any of us can bring my—my parents back. That’s as good as it’s gonna get. Don’t get your hopes up with him and me.”

“I’m proud of you Tony. That must have been hard.”

“Yeah, whatever. Let’s see what Legolas and the spy master have for us upstairs.” 

-o-

They found Natasha and Clint huddled together sitting at the kitchen table, chairs pressed close, foreheads nearly touching. 

“Are we interrupting something?” Tony sang. 

“No!” Clint looked up at the pair and blushed. “I mean—no. No, you’re not.”

“Smooth, Barton.” Natasha sat up straighter and smiled. “What can I do for you, boys?” “We were hoping you had something for us?” “We were going to ask you the same thing. It seems Sinthea’s chosen where she wants the final battle to be.” 

“And where is that?”

“Right outside Poughkeepsie, upstate.” 

“Why there?” Bruce folded his arms tightly. “From the looks of it she wants to march an army down the interstate.” She took out her phone and opened a picture of a camp of Hydra soldiers. “Courtesy of the Brooklyn boys.” 

Tony rolled his eyes and sighed. “Didn’t I say everyone needed to stay in the tower? We have drones for this.”

Natasha only shrugged. 

“They’re preparing for battle.” Clint said. “Steve says from the looks of it we have a few days before they’re prepared to march. We were going to ask if you had something to close the portal yet.” 

“Almost. We did it once, and we’ll do it again. Matter of time. Anyone know what we’re having for dinner, and when are the popsicles getting back from recon?”  
The question was met with a chorus of shrugs.

“Bruce can you bring my box upstairs?” Tony asked. 

“What box?”

“The box. With the motor in it. The one I was working on. The box, Bruce.”

“Sure. . .. The box.” 

-o-

The entire collection of Avengers (and one avengelet, according to Tony) sat at the dinner table, eating a wide assortment of Chinese food that had required a foldable shopping cart to deliver it all. 

“I think-“ Steve said between forkfuls of lo mein, “we should break up into two teams, one—“

“Shhh.” Bucky took a spring roll and shoved it into Steve’s mouth. “I’m eating.” 

“Thank you.” Tony grumbled. “Guy can’t eat around here in peace with that one spouting off battle plans.” He swallowed another spoonful of pork-fried rice and went back to reconstructing his metal box. 

“Do you have to do that at the table, Stark?” Natasha asked. 

“Yes. That was a silly question. I am about to solve all our portal problems from now to the end of eternity.”

“I don’t see how this differs from Steve’s love of battle tactics at the table. Perhaps both of you have trouble putting your work aside.” Thor said. 

“Don’t compare me to Cap, that man has a problem.” 

“I don’t have a problem.” Steve pouted. 

“Shh.” Bucky gently shoved another spring roll into Steve’s mouth, much to the Captain’s annoyance. “You have a problem. Always have. Don’t argue the truth, you’re gonna give me indigestion.” 

“Ha! Robocop agrees!” 

“Don’t call me that.” Bucky managed to be absolutely terrifying without ever looking up from his plate. 

“Whatever.” Tony mumbled. “Bruce lets me call him names. Ain’t that right, pumpkin patch?”

Clint tried to hold in a fit of giggles and failed; he burst into laughter so fierce he fell out of his chair.

“Pull your self together, Barton.” Natasha said. “It wasn’t that funny,” but even she was smiling.

 

-o-

After the table was clear, the dishes cleaned, and battle plans squared away, everyone went off to bed. 

“So,” Tony said, clutching his metal box in his arms like a teddy bear. “Time for bed. . .”

“I’ll get extra pillows from one of the spare bedrooms.”

Tony lit up with a smile. He began to bounce on the soles of his feet. “Oh really? Can you bring down the cookies Thor made? I think I’m gonna be up late and could use a snack.” 

“You could get it yourself, you know. The kitchen is right there.”

“They won’t taste the same if I get them.” 

Bruce rolled his eyes. He did as he was asked, and when he made his way down to the lab he found Tony already inside the pillow fort. 

“What’s that smell?” Bruce asked as he climbed inside. 

“Nothing. I—uh—it’s incense. I thought you might like it. Since you haven’t had much time to light some recently.” 

Warmth poured over Bruce in waves. He put the plate of cookies down next to Tony and laid the extra pillows around the fort. “Thank you, Tony. That was sweet of you.”

“Anything for you, handsome jello cup.” 

Bruce snorted. “You’re not really trying with those anymore, are you?”

“Nah, I’m just seeing what I can get away with.” Tony looked at Bruce from underneath his long, dark lashes and the physicist couldn’t look away. The moment stretched on passed platonic affection into something else entirely. The engineer laid himself out on the pillow-covered floor. 

“We’re not done talking about what happened in Latveria, are we?” 

“No.” 

Tony stretched himself out on the mountain of cushions. His shirt rid up and the smooth, tan skin of his stomach came into view. Bruce’s mouth went dry. His eyes wandered up Tony’s body until he reached his eyes, and the pair refused to look away from each other. The physicist felt his heart was rapidly beating toward danger. The hulk was pushing and pulling at his skin. He knew now this had always been inevitable. Tony and he had been dancing around this for far too long, and it was about time they ended it. 

Bruce leaned over Tony and closed the distance between them. When their lips met both of them melted, as if they had been holding in a breath and finally were allowed to let go. Tony let out a small whimper that got Bruce to begin nipping at his lower lip. 

“Bruce. . .” Tony moaned and gently gripped a handful of Bruce’s hair.

“Did you plan this?” Bruce asked. He nuzzled near Tony’s ear, leaving soft, feather-light kisses. 

“I would never do such a thing.” 

“Uh-huh. You’re about as subtle as fireworks. You didn’t think I would figure something was up? You lit incense.” 

“At least appreciate the effort!” 

Bruce snorted. “Uh-huh.” He nipped at Tony’s ear. “We need to talk about this. About Latveria”

“Later. Just let me—“ The engineer moved to kiss Bruce. The physicist denied him. He sat up and cleared his throat. 

“We’ve put it off long enough.”

“Have we? Because I think the timing is a little off. Kissing is happening now. Don’t you want to kiss me?” Tony shamelessly batted his eyelashes. Bruce tried very hard not to roll his eyes, and failed. 

When Tony caught on that Bruce wasn’t budging on the matter he sat up with a sigh. “Fine. Let’s hurry this up, you’re wearing too many clothes.”

“About that. . .You know I can’t. . .that I can’t, right?”

“And?”

“I’ll never be able to do more than this.” Bruce gestured between the two of them. “Just kissing. Maybe not even that. I can’t do much more. I mean I could. . .you. But that’s it. Never me.”

“You’re saying this as if it’s a problem. I already know what I signed up for. We can find ways around it for you.” 

Bruce whimpered and wiped his hands across his face. “I don’t believe you.”

“Ouch.”

“A man with your. . .reputation doesn’t just give up normal sex. Not for. . .me.”

“You’re selling yourself a little short. You’re worth it Brucie. And who said anything about giving up sex?”

“Bu—“

“We’ll find ways around it. Like we find ways around everything else. If that’s something you want, I’ll find a way to give it to you. To, ah, make it good for you.”  
Tony reached for a stark pad that wasn’t there, and settled for fidgeting with his hands. 

“I’ll think about it. But everything else, are you really up for everything else?”

“Everything else and the kitchen sink. More. The whole damn house.”

“Why?” Bruce’s voice came out in a whisper. 

“Are you really gonna make me say it?”

The question was met with silence. 

“Don’t make me say it. I’m not saying it. You have to know. I’ve been so obvious. J.A.R.V.I.S. has been onto me for months.”

“Months?” Bruce looked as if he was about to go into shock. 

“Don’t—don’t give me that look.” Tony let out an uneasy chuckle. “Don’t make me say it. Please, just,” he motioned for Bruce to come closer. “Just. . .please.” 

Bruce couldn’t stand to see Tony in pain. He didn’t have to hear what ever it was that Tony couldn’t say. He took hold of Tony’s waist and pulled the taller man onto his lap. 

**|~** “Alright, I think I understand.” He pulled him into a slow, wet kiss. Another wave of warmth rolled through Bruce. He hadn’t known how much he wanted this until he had it. Kissing Tony felt like coming home. He couldn’t tell how long they had been kissing, lazy and sweet, when Tony let out a quiet groan and started wiggling in Bruce’s lap. 

“Tony. . .” Bruce warned. He smiled when Tony let out another groan and tried to grind himself down into Bruce’s lap. 

“No, Tony.” He held onto the engineer’s hips and kept him still. 

“Bru-uce.” Tony whined. He tried to move and wasn’t able to budge an inch. 

“Uh-huh?” Bruce moved his attention away from Tony’s mouth, down to his neck. He nipped gently, and sucked an impressive bruise into existence. Tony gasped, and let out a loud, obscene moan. 

“Oh shit. Bruce, don’t--come on, I know you can’t—I don’t wanna pressure you.”

“I can’t, but _you_ can. Don’t touch me below the waist and we’ll be fine. You think you can handle that?” 

Tony nodded frantically and let out another filthy moan. Bruce took a moment to ensure his heart rate was under control before unbuttoning Tony’s jeans. 

“Is that alright? Is this what you want?”

“Yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes, hurry up. Before we get any older.” 

It was a joint effort getting Tony’s pants and boxers off. When Bruce went to take off Tony’s shirt the other man shook a firm no and pushed his hands away. “You don’t wanna see that.” 

“Which one of us here has something to be ashamed of?”

“That’s different.”

“If you wanna keep it on for your sake, that’s fine. But I like every part of you. Especially the arc reactor.” 

“It’s,” Tony gestured hopelessly to his chest “scarred. All around. It’s not pretty.” 

“Neither is being green.”

“Ha ha. Very funny.” Tony gave Bruce a long, thoughtful look, before pulling his shirt off. 

“Thank you, Tony. You’re beautiful. Did you know that?” The physicist put his hands against Tony’s back, pushing him closer so he could lay soft kisses along the scars around the arc reactor. 

“By all means, Bruce. Go ahead and take your time. It’s okay. The world isn’t ending in three days. Probably.” 

Bruce snorted. He gently palmed Tony’s crotch and watched the other man’s eyes become spaced-out and glassy from the pleasure of it.

“This isn’t fair. You’re still dressed.” Tony chuckled. 

“You’re right.” Bruce gripped Tony’s cock and twisted his wrist as he gave it long, lazy strokes. “It’s not fair.” Bruce smiled something mischievous. 

Tony whimpered. He laid his head on Bruce’s shoulder and panted into his neck. “Fuck that feels good.” 

Bruce reveled in how Tony felt on top of him, wiggling and needy and pliant for his touch. He drank in Tony’s mumbled litany of curses. 

Time passed in a languid, lust-filled haze until Tony let out a frantic, frustrated whimper. “I’m gonna- Bruce, Bruce please, just a little faster.” 

“No. If you wanna come you’re gonna have to come just like this. I’m not going any faster.”

Tony growled. He mouthed at Bruce’s neck, licking a sucking at the skin there until Bruce’s breath started to become shallow. He stopped before it became dangerous, only to start up again when it was safe. 

“You can do this, Tony. Go ahead and let it go.”

“That’s not _fair_. I don’t know if I-“

“You can, and you will. Let it go, I have you. Let it go.” 

Tony let out a painful moan. His orgasm rippled through him and left him a sweaty, cum-stained mess on Bruce’s lap. The physicist held onto Tony, rubbing soothing circles on his back while he collected himself. 

**~|** When he caught his breath Tony sat up and smiled an absolutely goofy smile. “Well that went well.” 

“Yeah I guess it did,” a moment and then, “Does this mean we’re boyfriends?” 

“I think we might be a bit too old for that, but yeah. I guess we are. As your first official boyfriend duty I demand you help me clean up.” 

When Bruce smiled it was dopey and love-struck. He knew he had fallen, and fallen deep. He couldn’t find it in himself to care. “Sure, Tony. What ever you want.”


End file.
